An Unknown Variable
by Weir the Warlock
Summary: The scientist of Payback is resuced by a faction thought dead- a faction that has its own plans for humanity and the Taelons. AU, with many OC.
1. Chapter 1

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

Prologue

The miniscule camera drone materialized in the corner of the warehouse, between two crates that would have shielded it's appearance from sight. It rose above the crates and began to scan the area. In seconds it focused on the alien-human hybrid going by the name Liam Kincaid and the man known as Augur- both important members of the so-called Earth Liberation Front. The drone turned in the direction the two faced as they approached and spoke to its true objective- disgraced scientist Arnold Creighton, his hands holding a small device, his body 'merged' with a metal shelf.

"We had moved things about searching this place earlier," a weak apology from Liam, "Can't you teleport yourself out?"

"Wouldn't help," the doctor moaned, "I'd still have internal injuries." He proceeded to shoot down Liam's talk of getting him to a hospital, pointing out that if they did so their mutual enemy- the alien beings known as the Companions would get a hold of him, "I can't risk them learning what I know about you."

"What are you doing?" Liam started as he saw Creighton manipulate the device he held.

"Teleporting the device in on itself." Creighton gasped.

Augur's eyes went wide, "That's going to cause an antimatter explosion" he shouted, grabbing Liam by the arm and pulling him toward the doorway they had come in from, despite Kincaid's pleas against letting Creighton kill himself.

But in the instant before his teleporter exploded, Creighton felt something strange…

When Creighton opened his eyes, he found himself a room with concrete grey walls- too drab to be heaven, too cold to be hell. Then he noticed he lay on a hospital bed, and intravenous tube attached to his arm.

"He's regained consciousness," A woman in a physician's uniform, whom he had just now registered was there turned toward a young man stepping out of the shadows. This stranger smiled, "How are you feeling, Dr. Creighton?"

"Well considering I expected to be dead, I suppose I feel rather good." was Creighton's reply.

"Glad to hear it," the stranger extended his right hand.

At that moment Creighton discovered the skrill attached to the stranger's wrist; looking at the physician he saw she wore one of the symbiotes as well, "Taelon stooges!" He yelled, suddenly struggling.

"No need for insults, doctor," The stranger's voice was quite calm, "These," indicating the lifeform on his arm, "Were cloned from cells stolen- with great difficulty I might add- from an experimental strain of skrill. Unlike the ones issued to mothership drones and companion protectors they do not require a cyber-viral implant to operate. A weapon without technologically imposed loyalty."

Creighton's body relaxed but his suspicions did not, "Well if you're not working for the Taelons, then who are you?"

The stranger realised his rudeness, "Of course, where are my manners? My name is Gene Saberhagen. I, along with Dr. Okuda here," He gestured toward the physician, "And the others in this- installation- are the former members of the resistance cell from the city of Edmonton."

"Wait a minute," Creighton said, "That's not possible. Volunteers closed in on that cell's base, they-"

"Set off a micronuclear device, vaporised themselves to avoid capture?" Saberhagen interrupted, "We did set off that small bomb, but only to make sure they wouldn't be looking for us after we made our escape- an escape you actually contributed to, even if indirectly."

Now Creighton was really confused, "Contributed? But how?"

"I'd been following your studies on teleportation theory before anyone had even heard of the Taelons. When the Companions put pressure on the Ivy League community to shut your project down it convinced me all the more you were on to something. So I supplied the scientists in my cell with as much of your research as I could acquire, in the hopes they might find a way to make teleportation happen. And they did, in fact that's how we were able to get you out of that warehouse before you set off that antimatter explosion."

"And brought me here" Creighton deduced, though he doubted he had been rescued by these people out of sheer gratitude, "I don't suppose you'd care to inform me just where here is?"

Saberhagen grinned, "I would, though it would probably be better to show you. That is," He turned toward Dr. Okuda, "If your patient is in any condition to take a short stroll."

Dr. Okuda looked worried, "Yes, but I have to insist he's brought back here quickly, he still has yet to fully recover."

"Of course," Saberhagen turned back to face his guest, "If you will come with me?"

Creighton followed Saberhagen down a corridor into an unfurnished room. Several people worked at consoles built into the walls, others passed by on errands. Creighton couldn't get a look at the wrists on all of them but those who stayed in one place had skrills on one arm like Saberhagen and Okuda.

Saberhagen nodded toward someone manning a console, that person pressed a button causing a hatch on the wall to retract. Behind that hatch lay a solid transparency through which Creighton saw earth itself in the distance, the continent of Australia coming into view.

Creighton felt like he was close to a heart attack. He stared at Saberhagen, who already knew what Creighton was about to ask.

"Between ten- twenty years before the Taelons announced themselves, humans placed a prefabricated structure- this structure, on the moon in what was supposed to be the first step in setting up a colony. Unfortunately the corporate entities funding this effort went under before the project could proceed any further. Not only was it abandoned, soon people pretty much forgot this place ever existed. But we found it."

"And nobody knows you're here?" Creighton gasped.

"That's how secret hideouts work, doctor," Saberhagen replied, "Any humans who still know of this place assume it's worthless real estate. And if the Taelons ever thought for a second it was inhabited, they'd have sent a truckload of volunteers to take the structure, or simply fired on it from the mothership."

Creighton raised an eyebrow, "A hidden base, weapons, technology? You're keeping a lot of secrets from your fellow freedom fighters."

"Because we're not their fellow freedom fighters." Saberhagen corrected him, "Oh I assure you none of us have any love for the Taelons, but neither are we content with a return to the status quo of old. Corporate greed, religious fanatics, et al. In fact even before I took over this cell, most of its members didn't trust the rest of the resistance anymore than they did the Companions. They still don't.

"I played the part of the loyal soldier, we all did, but in time I convinced the others in our little group we had chance, not just to fight off otherworldly oppressors, but to bring about a new world. A better world."

"A world under your stellar leadership" Creighton didn't even try to hide his sarcasm, "That's the real reason you saved my life, isn't it? To recruit me."

"You're a brilliant man, Dr. Creighton. You succeeded where a civilization eons older could not. And there are reasons you might want to be a part of our plan."

That last sentence got Creighton's attention, "And why is that?"

"Think of the pull you would have, the changes you could make. And you'd be in a position to do something about any- excesses- you might fear me capable of.

"Also, your intellect and our resources could help protect your fellow man from another alien menace. Though you have reason to doubt what you hear from the Taelon's mouth, the Jaridians are coming, and they are perfectly content with erasing an entire world," Saberhagen pointed out the window toward earth for effect, "Just to kill one Taelon."

Creighton gave the guy credit, Saberhagen spun a good spiel; it wasn't hard to imagine how he could win over the rest of his cell.

"And if those reason's aren't enough-"

"Yes?" Creighton wanted to hear this.

"You'd be in a position to get back at those who made you a laughing stock."

Creighton should have felt childish agreeing to throw his lot in with these people for a chance at revenge, but all the same an opportunity for payback sounded sweet, "Okay, I'm in. For now." He pointed toward the skrill on Saberhagen's arm, "I won't have to have one of those… things… attached to me, will I?"

"I see no need to pressure you to do so, if you find them so unsettling."

"And I can imagine what would happen if I tell anyone you're all still alive?"

"Hopefully you won't force our hand in that regard. Speaking of your well-being, Dr. Okuda is probably worried about you. We should head back."

Creighton held a hand up, "I can get back to her by myself. I need a moment alone to think."

"I'm sure you do." Saberhagen nodded and strode toward one of his lieutenants, a young man named Stephen Hamill. As they met the subordinate asked in a whisper, "You really sure he'll help us?"

Saberhagen turned his head to look at the scientist, "He's on the fence now, it's up to us to ensure he comes to our side and stays there." he came back around to meet his lieutenant's eyes, "You have something to show me?"

"That army depot in Alaska, the one you were so curious about?" Hamill showed Saberhagen a display on his global, "We finally managed to get a look at what's inside."

Saberhagen recognized the devices. Bombs, each with the force of a nuclear warhead, but confined to a blast area little more than tens of feet.

"The security's as tight as it gets, but we should be able to- appropriate- the devices without anybody learning who was responsible."

"We'd better be able to. Right now more than any weapon, any technology, our success depends on us being… an unknown variable."


	2. Chapter 2

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

Revelations

Arnold Creighton headed back to the good doctor Okuda, the wheels on the IV pole announcing his arrival with their squeaking. Dr. Okuda scowled as he returned, "I was prepared to come after you," she grumbled.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Creighton tried to smile but the moments of pain as Okuda helped him back onto the bed made it difficult, "I got a question though. You seem like a sharp lady- you really think you want the new order these people got in mind to actually happen?"

Okuda paused for a moment- but only a moment- before her scowl went even darker, "Before being a part of this cell I was a relief doctor in parts of Africa where child-slaves dug up diamonds which their jailers sold to fund their little wars- so yes I do have a vested interest in helping things on earth change."

Creighton opened his mouth, but stopped short of saying anything, somehow he felt his words would fall on deaf ears. Besides he was still injured and further annoying possibly the only physician on the moon seemed a bad idea.

A few days passed before Creighton's convalescence ended. He moved about the base unhindered except for several rooms barred by armed cell members. Eventually he followed the sound of voices to the chamber where he had seen earth from a distance through the window. Now that window functioned as a computer screen of sorts. One of two lieutenants flanking Saberhagen saw him and touched a console causing the screen to go blank.

"Stephen…" Saberhagen intoned.

"We're still not sure of his loyalties," Hamill hissed.

"And we are not likely to gain his loyalty by treating him like a leper, are we?" Saberhagen turned to face the scientist.

"Never works when I try it," a failed attempt at wit on Creighton's part.

Hamill sighed then turned the console back on. Creighton walked over, Saberhagen introduced his other lieutenant- a dark-skinned youth barely into adulthood as Suresh, their 'sensors and communications officer'.

Creighton looked to the large screen. It displayed several live feeds including a room occupied only by Taelons, including one widely recognized as…

"Zo'or?" he turned to Suresh, "You've bugged the Mothership?"

"And resistance headquarters," Suresh beamed, "Also a few Taelon embassies." the youth's smile faded, "except their base on the other side. 'Closest place to us but something about it always shorts out our eyes and ears in under an hour."

Beneath the feeds was what looked like an x-ray of an installation seen from above, including a storage area filled with- "What are those?"

"Micronuclear bombs," Saberhagen answered, "Not like that crude, homemade one we used to fake our annihilation. I've decided we have greater use for the devices then those who currently have them in their possession.

"We could teleport them out in one go but the energy output would be noticed all the way past Saturn. So we're having some counterfeits made. When we switch them one by one, the real devices will be held in a warehouse belong to one of our growing mass of sympathisers."

Creighton raised a brow, "And do these people have any idea who they are sympathising with? Any of them?"

"They know they support an alternative to subtle servitude to aliens or the same servitude to corrupt plutocrats and so called spiritual leaders. Speaking of choosing one evil or another, the Republican and Democrat leaders should be speaking now."

Suresh brought up two feeds side by side, one of American president Thompson, another of Jonathan Doors. Doors was in mid-sentence, essentially saying how he represented those of humanity that saw through the Taelons' lies.

"Of course he'd think the states is the only country on the planet whose opinion matters," Hamill grumbled, "Arrogant prick."

Saberhagen, upon hearing Hamill's words, found himself reflecting on an encounter from the previous year…

Hidden under a church in District of Columbia, rested the nerve centre of the resistance movement; where Saberhagen conferred with other agents of the cause including the late William Boone, their prize mole in the ranks of the enemy. Boone asked him, "So you're also on Doors' board of directors?"

"With the title of custodian of confidential information" he replied, "In other words, secret keeper."

Boone sounded intrigued, "So your job is to hide the skeletons in his closet?"

"Pretty much- if there was a single closet big enough to hide all his skeletons," Saberhagen chuckled, then noticed the surprise on Boone's face, "What, you think you're the only one who doubts the boss man's intentions? The reason I signed on to this army is to be in a position to do something in case he turns out to be Castro to the Taelons' Batista."

A realization shook Saberhagen back to the present, "There's something I have to do." before he walked away.

Creighton turned to Suresh, "He do that often- go off on his own like that?"

Suresh shrugged, "You get used to it after a while."

Back on Earth's surface in Resistance headquarters, Doors strode to his little office. Since announcing his aspirations for presidency many in the resistance- his resistance- had started grumbling about his being fit to lead; and he decided it might be best to go, but not before removing any sensitive information they really didn't need to know about- in his estimation at least.

Upon reaching the office He was shocked and angered to see the computer on- someone was already downloading its contents! Doors moved to shut it down, then froze when he heard a familiar voice.

"I'd advise against that Jonathan, you might not come back from the dead so easily a second time," Saberhagen stepped from the shadows aiming his skrill at Doors, "You really should've taken my thumbprint off the access list."

"Didn't see the point, you were supposed to be vaporised." Door's grumbled.

"And you were supposed to be the champion of the resistance," Saberhagen chuckled, "But that doesn't seem to be working out either from what I hear. But you adapt; so what if you're kicked out of your little private army? You win this election, you get a real army, don't you?"

"A better one than that pathetic gaggle of revolutionaries you've rallied," Doors sneered, "Didn't wonder how anyone as brain-dead as Taelon volunteers would manage to find out where your cell was based?"

Saberhagen's face darkened, "What are you saying?"

"I knew you turned those under you against me so I anonymously tipped the companions off to your location. I cut off a finger to save the hand- a weak, vestigial, useless finger-"

A blast from Saberhagen's skrill dropped Doors, stunning him and cutting off the rest of his mocking words. Saberhagen seethed over the body of his betrayer, "I should obliterate you period- but that would raise too many questions," he retrieved the now full data drive, "But don't worry old man, your day of retribution will come," before teleporting back home.

On Saberhagen's return Hamill, Creighton and several others approached him with questions and concerned looks.

"It was him," their leader muttered, "That bastard Doors… he told the volunteers where to find us."

This revelation even took Creighton aback, "You sure about this?"

"He said as much TO MY FACE!" Saberhagen clenched his hands into tight fists.

Multiple jaws dropped, "He spoke to you?"

"He knows you're alive?"

"What if he tells someone?"

At this moment Captain Lili Marquette helped up a slowly recovering Doors, "You alright Jonathan? What happened."

Doors started to speak, but realized Saberhagen was long gone, and from Marquette's words no one else knew he had been here. He considered telling her the renegade still drew breath- but if they searched for Saberhagen the bastard would probably let himself be caught just so he could have the pleasure of letting slip things he hid for Doors over the years- things that even the resistance would fight for the chance to crucify him over.

"I… I fainted." He grasped the desk to steady himself, "Low blood sugar."

Lili crooked a brow but asked no questions. As she left Doors couldn't help but look around- suddenly every shadow seemed to hide the spectre of someone he delivered to the hands of the enemy. Someone thirsting to strike back.


	3. Chapter 3

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

A New Recruit and New Discoveries

The probe corrected its course. During the time needed to repair an internal malfunction its destination planet had moved further along its orbit, forcing the device to compensate. But machines can afford to be patient; and the probe had been deployed so many centuries ago, could so short a delay really matter?

Drink in hand Juliet Street found an empty table; not that difficult a task as most of the bar's patrons were either dancing or making other, cruder attempts at seducing their peers. Street however was feeling less than sociable right now. Earlier in the day a job interview had gone south when she tired of the would-be employer's patronizing tone and lashed out at him out for it. The social worker who arranged the interview had lectured her again, accusing Street of intentionally sabotaging herself and expressing bewilderment at how one as intelligent as her would settle with just 'being adrift in life'.

'Well screw him,' she thought. Street was content with her life as it was- did everyone need some grand purpose? She shook her head and gulped down some of her drink.

"Hey, Firestar," she heard from behind her, an allusion someone she once knew would make to her fiery red hair- not to mention her temper.

Street scowled, "Only one person in the whole universe was ever stupid enough to call me that-" She turned to face the young man behind her, "And I was afraid I'd lost him forever." Her scowl shifting to a smile, she ran over to Stephen Hamill and hugged him so tight she risked breaking a few ribs.

"Oof," Stephen grunted as they separated, "Good to see you too, J." Before he and his cell had gone further into hiding the two had long been 'net-pals' and though until today they never occupied the same room, each considered the other a true friend and confidant.

"But I don't get it," She started as they sat down, "I was told you guys nuked yourselves when the volunteers found you."

"They didn't *find* us, Jonathan Doors told them where we were cause we didn't see everything his way- HE sold us out." Hamill exhaled, "It wasn't easy convincing the rest of the cell to let me break cover like this but I had to talk to somebody from my old life."

Street nodded, but she had long ago learned to spot when Hamill was trying to hide something, "What's wrong?"

Hamill looked around to ensure nobody was watching them then whispered, "If I show you something, will you give me a chance to explain before you freak?" He held up his right arm and before Street's widening eyes the upper portion of a skrill crawled out from his sleeve and reattached to his wrist.

"But that's a…" Her eyes began shifting from the symbiote to Hamill's gaze.

Hamill lightly stroked the life form, "I named her Juliet."

"Oh that's not creepy at all," She glared at him, "What the hell? You always told me you were fighting the Taelons."

"I am. I'm with the good guys, J. The real good guys," Hamill pleaded, "I thought if anybody would understand…"

"Well I *don't* understand," Street withdrew, "I- I can't handle this right now." She stood and bolted from the door when a new problem froze her in her tracks.

"Everyone in this bar IS UNDER ARREST!" Just in front of the door stood Ronald Sandoval, enforcer of the Taelons' will; from behind him soldiers known as volunteers came forth to start rounding people up.

Before she could be seen Hamill took Street by the arm and pulled her behind a corner, manipulating a small device in his other hand, "Whatever you think of me J, I'm not leaving you to these bastard's."

She looked about, "But there's nowhere to go…"

"Oh yes there is," Wrapping his arms around Street, Hamill activated the device and they vanished from the earth.

When they arrived at the cell's main base three of its members aimed skrills at their heads; on recognizing Hamill they lowered their arms and one spoke, "You weren't supposed to bring her back."

"It was this or let Sandoval's brownshirts grab her!" the other fighters backed off and Hamill made for the command centre, dragging Street with him.

If the sudden teleportation alone was jarring for Street the sight of earth through a large window blew her mind even more; hearing someone say her friend's name jolted her back to the moment and a man, from the looks of things the leader here, looked her in the eye, "Welcome to the moon, Ms. Street."

Hamill began to plead, "I had no choice, the place was crawling with-"

"Volunteers, we know," Saberhagen suddenly sounded quite understanding, "They're rounding up people all over."

Hamill stepped back, "A crackdown?"

"That's what we thought- at first. Tell him."

Suresh coughed, "Something's hit the Taelons- it's supposedly messing with the psychic link they all share; if it keeps on they're going to devolve into the primitives they used to be, not much more than wild animals."

"How is taking a bunch of humans prisoner going to stop that?"

"They'll likely use the prisoners in some experiment," Saberhagen answered, "But it can't be more than a bandage on a gaping wound, and knowing the Taelons I'd be surprised if it didn't kill those humans eventually- which means it's up to us to solve the Taelons' problem for them. Suresh, hack into the GPS satellites and look for any impacts thought to be meteors or falling space junk."

Suresh went to work, a short moment later he found something. On the window/screen appeared an image of the Australian outback, which Suresh magnified multiple times over.

The device had the distinct form of Jaridian technology; even if it wasn't the culprit its presence would do the Taelons no favours.

Creighton broke the brief silence, "It should be simple enough to teleport one of those micro-nukes you swiped right next to it."

Saberhagen spoke without looking back, "And destroy superior technology."

"You said you were going to save those people," Creighton snarled.

"Not by throwing away a possible weapon we could use against the Taelons ourselves, we'll have to think of something else!"

At this point Street raised a hand and piped up, "I might know a way." All eyes went upon her, prodding her to elaborate, "From here it looks like this thing is jamming the- psychic link you called it, couldn't there be a way to jam whatever signal *it's* sending?"

Creighton shrugged but Saberhagen smiled, "If you could do this, you would save a lot of innocent lives. Anything you need, we'll provide."

Street nodded, Creighton took her in hand to confer with the other scientists in the cell. Hamill stopped them to speak to Street, "You need to know J- I never meant to draft you like this."

"It's okay. Really." Street actually found herself smiling as she walked off, let that putz of a social worker accuse her of having no purpose now!

As Street left Hamill looked to Saberhagen, "That probe, if we want to study it intact we should move the thing before someone else finds it."

"Agreed. But it probably has built-in defences against anyone who gets too close- we'll need to defeat them somehow."

Suresh stepped in, "What about that EMP gun the Taelons designed last year to bait Doors with? Didn't we make a couple from the specs we stole?"

Saberhagen looked to him, "Yeah but they're untested and we don't know if an EM pulse would affect Jaridian technology at all."

"This is as good a way to find out as any."

Shortly later they sent Hamill down with an EMP gun in both hands. Immediately he fired on the probe; after a few seconds the alien device still seemed to be working but nothing paralysed him or struck him dead. Rather than question his luck he approached the probe and teleported it and himself to one of several pre-arranged hiding places the cell had established over the past few months.

Unseen by him and unbeknownst to the others, a well-camouflaged soldier had been observing the probe and saw his disappearing act. She wasted no time in contacting her superior, "You were right Major," her voice had a telltale American accent, "Looks like someone found a way to make Creighton's theory work. But I'm not sure whose side they're on."

Hours later Street, with help from the rest of the cell finished putting together a device that- hopefully- would stop the probe from affecting the Taelon Commonality. Not everyone was convinced it would work and some of those who were feared the jamming signal it provided could be tracked back to them. Saberhagen, whether bold or reckless, insisted they take the risk. Once the device was plugged in to a portable M/AM generator they threw the switch, and found themselves holding their collective breath.

The waiting was tortuous, the silence so tense everyone practically welcomed the sounds that alerted them to transmissions sent from the mothership. Suresh intercepted the signal, "New orders concerning the sleepers. They're letting them go- all of them." A chorus of cheers and high-fives greeted the good news.

Saberhagen gave Street a warm smile, "Hamill always said you brilliant, I see now his words were the definition of understatement."

Creighton stifled a grunt of disgust. Saberhagen was turning on the charm again. Worse, she actually seemed to be going for it; it came as little surprise when Creighton heard later Street had agreed to stay with the cell- a decision loudly protested by Hamill.

Over the next week Creighton and the other scientists would teleport to the underground vault where Hamill had hidden the probe to study it. Fearful of unintentionally triggering the probe's defences should one actually try to dismantle the device they contented themselves with various scans.

And though hopes of obtaining superior weaponry from the device were at least temporarily frustrated, Creighton insisted their efforts had not entirely been for nothing.

"This thing's got a pretty distinct power signature," he explained to Saberhagen, "We attune our sensors just right we might be able to detect any more replicants the Jaridians send this way- or ones that might already be hiding on earth."

"What about cloaked Jaridian agents?" a piqued Saberhagen asked, "Could we detect their presence as well?"

"I don't want to get your hopes up too high, but theoretically- yes."

Saberhagen nodded, "Then let's see what we could see."

In putting Creighton's hypotheses to work the scientists of the cell failed to find any Jaridian scouts or probes; however in one experimental adjustment they accidentally found something else- two faint particle beacons, one from beneath Stonehenge, both farther underground than any humans to their knowledge had plumbed. Alarmed by the discovery and quick to assume Taelon subterfuge, Saberhagen ordered a camera drone sent to both locations.

The drone teleported beneath Stonehenge revealed a large chamber containing what looked like a metal coffin propped upright, the destroyed remains of a similar sarcophagus, and of all things a human skeleton holding the rusty remnants of a sword. The second drone showed a much smaller cavity with five of the coffin-like structures standing in a circle.

It was decided. With several cell soldiers led by Saberhagen himself for protection, Creighton would teleport to the smaller chamber to investigate the coffins more thoroughly. Hamill volunteered to bring one of their scientists and some fighters for back-up to the vault beneath Stonehenge at the same time.

On hearing this Street announced, "I'm going with you."

"The hell you are!" Hamill snapped, "I brought you here to get you away from the volunteers, I can't bring you into a possible danger we know nothing about!"

"What, I'm supposed to sit here up on the moon waiting while you risk your life? I've helped your cause so far, I can help in this too!"

Hamill turned to his leader hoping for support but Saberhagen seemed to agree with Street, "Bring her along, she just might come in handy."

Street stuck her tongue out at Hamill. Saberhagen laughed.

The group materialised within the chamber, behind the circle of coffins, their backs to the cavern wall. At first nothing appeared to happen, and Creighton stepped forward to examine them more closely- but shrank back yelping when the caskets slowly and noisily slid apart, as though the party's arrival had triggered something.

Saberhagen and his warriors aimed their skrills at five humanoid but definitely not human creatures who emerged from the sarcophagi and moved to challenge the intruders. The beings stared at the skrills with looks of contempt, recognizing them as weapons of some kind, but unconvinced those weapons could be a threat. The lead creature's face grew a wicked sneer, as he raised his hands the fingers on them abruptly sported long, nasty talons that looked to be made from pure light.

Saberhagen replied with a skrill blast so intense it vaporized the creature completely upon striking him. The remaining four gasped as though they'd just seen the impossible; then with expressions of both fear and rage extended radiant claws of their own and charged.

The humans did not falter, the symbiotes they bore loosed bolt after bolt, each as powerful as Saberhagen's first. Only when the last entity was catapulted to oblivion did they show or even acknowledge the fatigue that repeated skrill blasts of such power inflicted on the creatures' hosts.

Saberhagen pointed toward the nearest coffin, gasps of breath punctuating his words, "Bring back… that one to… study, use the C-4 we... brought… to destroy the… others."

His soldiers moved to obey; on getting his wind back Saberhagen looked at Creighton. As weeks ago the scientist had attempted to end his own life, one could forgivably be surprised to see him respond to the alien creatures' entrance with the sheer terror that he did, even now the fright had not completely faded.

Saberhagen held up his skrill to Creighton's eye and asked, "Still sure you don't want one of these?"

Days later Creighton had gained far better results with the 'sarcophagus' than he had with the Jaridian probe, and his first revelation was how ill-fitting the words they used for the devices were, "Coffins are to hold the dead- this thing is meant to keep someone alive."

Saberhagen leaned forward, "Suspended animation? For how long?"

"How long? Something could've went to sleep in this when dinosaurs were stomping around and woken up yesterday still young and vital."

Hamill stepped forward. Upon reaching the chamber beneath Stonehenge his detachment had also been assailed by a humanoid with 'energy claws'; like Saberhagen they too had obliterated their attacker and then destroyed the vessel in which the being had slept. Now he brought forth a fist-sized green crystal that Street had found during the group's exploration of the vault.

"It took J and the other scientists some doing, but they figured out what it's for." Hamill shone a light into the gem, before everyone's eyes shimmered a projection showing many chambers like the one Saberhagen's team had trespassed on scattered across the globe, deep in the earth's crust.

Most of the cell looked to each other worriedly, murmuring fears that more of such beings existed. Saberhagen however, performed some mental arithmetic.

"We should still have a few left over," He whispered before asking much louder, "Creighton, if one of our micronuclear devices went off in the centre of one of these chambers, how much damage would be done to the surrounding area?"

Creighton considered the question; while doing so he stroked his chin with fingers on the arm that bore a newly bonded skrill before answering, "The blast radius and EM pulse would be well within the chamber, and unless someone actually drills that far deep down the risk of exposure to fallout should be nil."

Street's jaw dropped, "Hold up, you want to nuke these people in their sleep?"

Dr. Okuda spoke up, "She may be right, Gene. Wouldn't it be better to talk to them? They could prove to be a useful ally."

"You didn't see these creatures," Saberhagen shook his head while he spoke, "The loathing, the utter contempt in their eyes. No, there's no allying with them, they are a threat that has to be nipped in the bud and nipped NOW."

He turned to face Suresh, "Suresh I want one of the devices teleported to the centre of each of these chambers, simultaneously if possible, and then triggered right after."

Suresh actually looked slightly pale, but he nodded and worked to carry out his orders. Creighton sympathised with the youth's unease yet at the same time said nothing; for once- make that twice, as he regarded the new friend on his arm- he actually found himself in agreement with Saberhagen's decision.

In a pocket within Earth's crust, one of many just like it stood five stasis chambers, each sustaining a humanoid of the ilk that that Saberhagen and his troops struck down. While these beings remained in dormancy an implement of destruction materialised between them, just as other such bombs appeared in the other chambers across the globe and almost immediately detonated, ensuring that none of the entities within would ever awake.


	4. Chapter 4

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

Smokescreens

Emerging from Interdimensional Space, Lili Marquette steered the shuttle toward the mothership's open bay. Upon landing she and her passengers Liam Kincaid and Da'an made to the ship's main bridge where they found Zo'or, his protector Ronald Sandoval and the Taelon war minister T'than waiting for them.

Zo'or spoke first, "Our sensors detected a most peculiar phenomenon, one that we thought you should be made aware of."

He directed their attention to the main view screen. At locations all over the globe a large multitude of electromagnetic pulses had erupted, both deep underground and at the same time. The pulses were too deep to damage any electrical systems; but their very existence was unnerving in itself.

Liam looked more closely, "They look like the kind of EMP made by a nuclear blast but they're far too small for that."

"Not necessarily," Marquette corrected him, "The US army once invested much into so called micro nuclear weapons- just as much punch as a standard nuke but contained to a blast radius miniscule in comparison."

"Indeed. In fact we have been informed a large number of such devices were guarded carefully in a military depot in the region you call Alaska," Zo'or interjected, "However when Sandoval contacted said depot, its commanding officer insisted all of the weapons held there were accounted for."

"Not anymore," Sandoval deactivated his global, "The colonel just contacted me. After I spoke to him earlier he grew suspicious and ordered the bombs inspected. So far all the ones they've examined have turned out to be harmless fakes, and he suspects the rest are as well."

"All of them?" Zo'or's tone betrayed an even deeper disdain for the American military's competence than usual, "Then it begs the question- what was in those spaces so far down that the Resistance would want destroyed?"

"The resistance-" Liam cut in, "Managed to steal every one of those weapons from a heavily guarded army base and replace them with duds, all without anybody noticing? For once I think even you give the resistance too much credit."

Through listening and spy devices well concealed on the mothership this entire exchange reached the hidden redoubt of Gene Saberhagen's rogue resistance cell.

Creighton spoke first, "If they suspect my teleportation theory was used to steal then launch those bombs, they're going to look for the outbursts the technology gives off. It could lead them to the people who hid the bombs on your behalf."

Saberhagen was unconcerned, "Even if they do, we taught those people how to forge a data trail implicating outsiders in the ownership of the warehouse where the bombs were stored," he turned to face Creighton, "Believe it or not, we do look out for our own."

'Apparently by setting up someone else's own to take the fall,' though Creighton took care not to voice that last observation out loud.

Street pointed toward T'than, "That Taelon wearing the green sash- what embassy is he from?"

Saberhagen looked where she indicated, "None. That's T'than, the Taelon equivalent to a five star general." At this point the session on the mothership bridge ended; T'than made for his quarters while Liam led Marquette and Da'an back to the waiting shuttle.

"Come to think of it, Zo'or has clashed with the good general almost as often as he has with Da'an," one could almost hear the wheels turning in Saberhagen's mind, "We might be able to use that- Suresh, do we know where T'than's quarters are?"

T'than sealed the entrance to his chambers then began preparations for a needed energy shower. The electromagnetic pulses the ship detected weighed on his mind, however. Assuming they were caused by human weaponry, what did they destroy; more importantly, what was down there that Taelon technology had failed to detect until it was too late? The unanswered questions brought out the 'blush' that Taelons wearing a human face showed when distressed.

"Greetings, esteemed War Minister," A voice said from behind, perfectly understandable, yet distorted such that none would recognize it. T'than spun around and found himself facing a humanoid image composed of black, oily smoke emerging from a tiny holographic projector that had definitely NOT been on the floor when he first walked in.

"By all means alert security," the voice continued, "I would love to learn how they could capture and confine a hologram," T'than could have sworn he heard a slight chuckle at the end.

"Who are you?" the general demanded, "What do you want from me?"

"Merely one who has seen Zo'or frustrate you and the original aims of your illustrious Synod, and would offer assistance in relieving that frustration."

"Is it a human on the other end of this discourse?" T'than sneered, "Because if so the offer is wasted, I neither need nor desire the aid of an inferior species."

"Oh? Did not an 'inferior' human destroy the Jaridian replicant that claimed the life of Zo'or's predecessor, and attempted the same with Da'an? Oh yes, that was a Kimera mongrel's doing so perhaps your point does stand."

T'than recoiled, "Kimera? Where did you learn that name?"

"Oh I know *many* things I am not supposed to."

"Just because you have heard the name from somewhere does not mean there is any truth to this drivel that Da'an is watched over by one of a kind that no longer draws breath." T'than seethed.

"Yes people do lie, however chromosomes do not. If you reconsider my offer I will know and contact you again. But be warned, Zo'or may not wait for you to make the first move." At that the projector gave off a flash as it self-destructed and the apparition was no more.

T'than sneered, and paused at the intruder's final words- 'Chromosomes do not lie- what could he possibly mean by that? Humans are such a stupid species.'

Once the long distance conversation ended Street looked to Saberhagen, "You really think he'll go for the offer?"

Saberhagen laughed, "I wouldn't believe him if he did- the offer was just a smokescreen, behind which to plant the seed of a little known truth and hope it grows into a wedge between the Synod."

Hamill added, "Let's hope so, if it works we might not have to go through with Operation Last Resort after all."

Creighton did not like those ominous words, he was almost too afraid to ask "And what is Operation Last Resort?"

Saberhagen answered this time, "Storm the mothership, seize key systems, then point its guns at earth to make our arguments for change more persuasive."

"Oh, is that all?" Creighton's sarcasm, as usual, was unequivocal.

Street took Hamill by the arm, pulling him from the command centre into a corridor. Once the others were out of earshot she hissed, "Again, what the Hell? You told me you were with the real good guys- this last resort thing does not sound like something the real good guys would do!"

"They would if no other options show themselves," Hamill spat, "Unfortunately a lot of people down there only understand one language- violence!"

"But what if your arguments aren't enough, even with the mothership's guns to back them up? Is he really going to fire on earth if they say no?"

Hamill paused, then shook his head as if to dislodge any doubts within, "Look, it's only if everything else fails- that's why it's called Last Resort. Besides, right now we don't have the numbers to take and hold the mothership anyway. And even if we ever do gain them, I promise it won't come to that." As he led her back into the room, Street tried to convince herself Hamill was telling the truth.

Five minutes before broadcast and Jonathan Doors sneezed from the blush being applied. Even with all the advances he still had to undergo the demeaning task of wearing makeup on camera. When his global rang he shooed the makeup woman away before answering "Dammit Kincaid, what is it now?"

"Nice to hear from you too. I need to talk to you about some stolen micro nuclear weapons. Augur found evidence they might have been teleported to then from a warehouse near Helena- one that officially belongs to Doors International."

Doors had no idea what Kincaid was going on about, "What, don't be stupid; I don't own any warehouses in Helena, and I certainly don't know anything about telepor-"

Doors froze. Teleportation- could that have been how Saberhagen escaped form the Volunteers? It could explain the way he got in and out of resistance headquarters unnoticed, "Actually I might have a lead, I'm sending you the coordinates now." Doors hoped if they found the renegade they would be forced to shoot to kill.

Liam terminated the connection, "He sent me an address in a town somewhere in Alberta, a place called Sher-"

"Sherwood Park?" Lili keyed in the destination.

"Yeah. You know it?"

"I know of it," Lili answered looking ahead as she took the shuttle to the air, "That's- it was- Saberhagen's hometown."

"As in Gene Saberhagen? I saw a few reports his cell sent before their mass suicide but I never had any meaningful contact with him."

"You're probably better off for it," Lili shot the craft into ID space, "Gene sat on Doors' board of Directors and seemed devoted to the movement's ideals, but I rarely saw two people snip at each other more. Honestly, I think each saw a lot of himself in the other and didn't like the view one bit," both pilot and passenger chuckled.

The shuttle landed in an airpad within the town. Saberhagen's home stood out by how heavily vandalized it was; though the man was highly esteemed by the Companion-sympathetic locals at one time, they had been quick to turn on his memory when his resistance connections came to light. Energy pistols drawn, Liam crossed the threshold of the busted down door in front whilst Marquette entered through the back. Marquette started to search the first floor, Liam headed up the stairs to the second.

Previous trespassers had done a very thorough job of smashing the place and looting it of anything that might have had any commercial value, nevertheless Liam's patient sifting through the wreckage was eventually rewarded when he came upon a smashed global- one that appeared to have been deliberately stomped on from the damage.

Could this have been Saberhagen's? He might have tried to destroy anything recoverable on it, then acquired a black market one the authorities couldn't track- he wouldn't have been the first. If so, he had done a rather half-assed job; Liam found a slightly damaged memory chip that could still hold information, which he entered into his own device.

Only three communications were still salvageable and even they were only partly so. The first one was between Saberhagen and someone who, presumably by the exchange that followed, was a scientist from his cell.

"This is *static* I could gather. Maybe you c- *static* find something no *static* else did", Unfortunately whatever Saberhagen sent her was irretrievable.

The woman on the other end replied, "What about the *static* cells in the movement?"

"Not interested. *Static* all convinced if *prolonged static* beaten us to it centuries ago. Augur might, but *static* got him on so-called higher priority *static*."

The next conversation occurred about a month later, initiated by the outside party, "Is it true what *static* saying on the news *static* Boone dead?"

"That's what *static* ulletin Marquette sent claims. Apparently *static* Doors got the news *static* like he *static* give a crap- big surprise," the rest of the exchange was lost so Liam moved on to the last transmission.

This one was not so much a conversation as a broadcast to an accumulation of other globals, perhaps the rest of the cell, "Orders *static* the boss man himself. We're all *static* relocate to this *static*," Though the location was scrambled it made little difference, Liam knew where the Edmonton resistance made their last stand, "He says it's so *static* find us there's *static* risk of collateral damage. I gotta say *static* surprised, *static* Doors I knew would've *static* throw dead civilians at the Taelons *static* their supporters."

Liam puzzled over the rationale of Doors' last command. Protecting non-combatants made sense, but surely it wasn't necessary to gather the whole group in one place, unless- "Lili?" He yelled out, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach.

Marquette and Liam backed Doors into a corner both literally and figuratively, "You didn't," Marquette half-yelled, half-pleaded, "You didn't order them somewhere they could be wiped out all at once then leak their location to the Taelons- Tell me, Dammit!'

Doors folded his arms and dashed any hopes she had for a denial, "I did what I had to do- Saberhagen was dangerous! If he had his way he'd have driven off the Taelons then put himself at the top of his own new world order!"

"Really? Because that suspiciously sounds like the sort of thing he used to say about you! Tell me Jonathan, once the Companions are gone what do you have planned for an encore?"

"Of all the asinine things to say, kings are obsolete! But Saberhagen doesn't know that!"

Liam caught those last words, "Don't you mean didn't know that? He is dead after all, isn't he?"

Doors was quick to recover, "Yes, you're right- didn't. A slip of the tongue."

Liam had to return to the mothership; as he and Marquette left it occurred to him, "Since when did Doors ever admit someone else was right about anything?"

While the resistance might have believed someone picked up where Arnold Creighton left off in teleportation theory they certainly didn't want the Taelons suspecting it as well; consequently when reporting to T'than Liam claimed the investigation had failed to turn up any significant leads.

The general sneered, "I would have been surprised to hear differently, but pleasantly so. Leave us, what I have to say now is for Taelon ears alone."

Da'an turned to Liam, "You may stand guard outside." Once Liam left and the entrance sealed T'than turned toward a wall console, "As it happens I have begun an investigation of my own, though mine has proven far more fruitful," he brought up a display of a double helix upon the monitor, "You recognize the DNA file of your companion protector?"

Da'an paused; He had seen to it the sample logged for Kincaid had been sufficiently altered to appear as that of an ordinary human, "I do, what of it?"

"Earlier today someone spoke to me and made a rather odd statement- that chromosomes do not lie. It spurred me to think on the oddities of human two-parent reproduction," T'than manipulated the console and the double helix show separated in two, "Half on Liam Kincaid's genetic material appears to come from deceased Companion protector Siobhan Beckett, and the other half from Zo'or's protector Ronald Sandoval- Do you have an explanation for this?"

Da'an blushed- how could he have been so careless? "Your information is obviously flawed. Beckett and Sandoval have never been known to be- intimate- in that fashion and even if they had, any progeny resulting from the encounter would still be an infant."

"Unless his growth was accelerated with the aid of Kimera essence," T'than turned with a sinister glint in his eye, "Liam Kincaid is the bastard son of Ha'gel- but you have already known that for some time now, have you not?"

Da'an's head sank, he knew he had been caught, "I suppose now that you have learned this you will call for the major's execution?"

"Execution? And squander such a valuable resource?" T'than shook his head, "We have in the major an asset no one else in the Commonality is aware even exists- least of all that buffoon who undeservingly sits at the head of the Synod."

"You would use Major Kincaid as your personal assassin?"

"Oh I doubt that will be necessary," T'than's tone became even more conspiratorial, "He *is* a Companion Protector. And is there anyone you are in greater need of protection from than Zo'or?"


	5. Chapter 5

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

the Mole on the Mothership

Creighton and Saberhagen circled the probe. The device gave off no light, produced no sound. A short time ago the probe had gone completely inert, no longer issuing pulses intended to disrupt the Taelon Commonality. The change was an abrupt one, not the gradual bleeding off of a dying battery; as if it somehow realized its task had been thwarted and simply chose to expire.

Out of ideas Creighton kicked the probe- nothing happened, "It's dead. But on the upside it should be safe to crack it open and get a look at the innards- assuming we get hold of a tool that can break away the shell without trashing them in the process."

Saberhagen had a question for the man, "Could we teleport the 'innards'- as you put it, out of the shell?"

"Hamill asked me to try a few times- it'd disappear for half a sec then reappear in the exact same spot. Once I tried to teleport just the frame itself but somehow it insisted on bringing the core along for the ride," Creighton scratched his head, "Of course that was when the device's power supply was still kicking, the situation might be different now."

"It might also be hazardous. Could the Jaridians have rigged the core with any nasty surprises should it be exposed to the outside?"

"As far as I can tell- maybe."

Saberhagen frowned, "I don't like maybes, doctor."

"Who does? Look, I'd love to give you definite answers but this alien tech is just too- alien. There's too much we don't know."

The ringtone of Saberhagen's global interrupted the not-so-witty repartee; when he acknowledged the call he heard Hamill's voice, "Boss man, there's something in Da'an's embassy you might want to see."

"We're coming," he closed the global, "Let's go doctor, you can break your toy later." The two teleported back to their headquarters.

The large window/monitor showed a live feed from the embassy in which stood Da'an, Zo'or, their respective protectors, and a male human in a fine suit.

"I recognize that guy," Creighton pointed as he spoke, "That's Paul Wagner, for the right price he'll get people thinking cigarettes are good for their lungs."

Saberhagen frowned, "You called to show me a spin doctor?"

"No, we called for you to see this." at the touch of Suresh 's fingers, the image went dark. The aliens and their bodyguards became black figures within green outlines, but from within Wagner's torso emanated a vivid green glow indicating a source of energy not unlike that which had once came from the probe…

Creighton's eyes would've jumped out of their sockets had he been a cartoon character, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah," Suresh nodded, "How cool is that?" then returned the image to normal.

"A replicant," Saberhagen said to no one in particular, "It must have killed the real Wagner and taken on his appearance to get closer to the Taelons."

Creighton's head darted every which direction, "Well this is a golden opportunity, we got to grab that thing before it's too late."

Hamill glared at the scientist, "We can't just teleport it from under their noses, that would alert them to us."

Saberhagen contributed, "Also the replicant would probably respond to being abducted in such a manner quite violently. For all we know virtual glass could be a joke to Jaridian firepower. Suresh, rewind to before we started talking."

Suresh complied. This time all present stayed quiet and it was revealed that the Wagner impostor had somehow arranged for a reporter named Abby Franklin to interview Da'an and Zo'or- on the bridge of the mothership itself!

Creighton turned to Saberhagen, "If it gets on the mothership with them, it's gonna be even harder-"

Saberhagen cut him off, "Actually, this might make acquiring the replicant more tenable. However what I have in mind would likely jeopardize an irreplaceable asset we have on the mothership; so the question is, are the potential rewards worth that kind of risk?"

On board said mothership Erika Vosser successfully humiliated not one but two fellow Volunteers, one seconds after the other, in a shuttle flight simulation.

Climbing out of the 'cockpit', she elbowed one of the unlucky pilots, "How come such a big man steers like such an old lady?"

"Hey simulations are one thing, Vosser," The other Volunteer snapped back, "Show us you can pull those turns on a real shuttle, then you can talk!"

Vosser's global beeped, "Hey I gotta take this, but I'll be there to kick both your butts at target practice too!" As she walked off the two hurled every obscenity they knew her way.

Once she was where nobody would hear Vosser answered, "This has gotta be real important for you to reach out to me like this."

Saberhagen wasted no time on small talk, "Not long from now a Jaridian replicant posing as some smarmy PR guy will board the mothership. Its mission might be information gathering, sabotage- doesn't matter. We need you to separate the replicant from anyone else on the ship and try to talk to it, convince it that bringing itself to us will serve its masters. If that's not possible, find a way to disable the thing so it can be brought back to study."

"Understood. I won't let you down." Vosser closed the device. However she was aware how difficult the task assigned to her would be; despite knowing enough to recognize the replicant she couldn't just walk up to this 'smarmy PR guy' and ask for a word in private. Also the responsibilities of a Volunteer would prevent her from slinking anywhere on the mothership unnoticed. Pulling this off would require very careful planning, and likely a great deal of luck.

After target practice Vosser managed a plausible alibi of needing to retrieve something from her quarters. Moving quietly through the halls hoping to come up with a way to extricate the replicant from intrusive eyes she stopped. Working on a console in a nearby alcove with his back turned to her, she recognized Liam Kincaid- Da'an's protector and from what Saberhagen told her, a part-alien being spying for the 'other' resistance, the resistance content with returning to the corrupt, war-torn earth of old.

Not even risking the noise of breathing out loud, she silently held up her global and recorded Kincaid's actions with the device's scanner. Once he was done Vosser withdrew from behind the wall; Kincaid stepped away and made for the turbo lift giving no indication of having even detected her.

Only when Kincaid was gone did Vosser resume breath. She sped to Volunteer quarters which should be empty at the time; no passers by to stop and inquire what she was looking at. Once the door shut behind her Vosser played back what she caught, zooming in on the console 's monitor.

From what she saw Kincaid was using the console in a roundabout way to covertly access the ship's interdimensional drive, but why? If the mothership was supposed to be going anywhere why the secrecy? Unfortunately before she could finish that thought the deck's sudden lurch caught her off guard.

Back in his cell's lunar hideout on the command centre's view screen Saberhagen and his followers saw the mothership vanish into ID space. Alarm and confusion would not begin to describe their reaction.

Saberhagen turned to his communications man, "Suresh?"

"Don't look at me, I've had my ear to the ground all day, there's been nothing about the mothership scheduleding any takeoffs!"

Hamill piped up, "Could somebody have managed to seize control of it?"

"The replicant," Saberhagen realized, "That was it's mission! Hijack the mothership somehow and deliver it into Jaridian hands!"

"If the Jaridians get ID travel, they could attack us before…" Hamill shuddered.

Having heard all this, Creighton brought up an application on his global using it to try to calculate the energy needed to teleport something the size of the mothership.

"I'm afraid your magnificent discovery won't save the day this time doctor," Saberhagen told him, "Before bringing you aboard we experimented sending probes into ID space- we could never regain contact once they got there. And we need to know something's location to teleport it to us. So even if we could amass the power required to move something that big it wouldn't help."

Creighton thought of this, then something else occurred to him, "Maybe, but there're plenty of shuttles on earth. Send down a team to steal one and-"

"And then what?" Saberhagen snapped, "Send it after them? Either the replicant has likely gained control of its weapons and would shoot the shuttle down before it could get in range to do anything, or those in it would end up in the hands of Taelons who wouldn't give a crap if we were trying to rescue them!"

Street broke the prolonged silence that followed, "What about an ID portal? If we get the power needed, could the ship's location be sent through one of those?"

Saberhagen looked up at her, "It would have to be modified, ID portals aren't designed to be open for prolonged periods. Also a probe sent through would hard pressed not to be carried off course and end up hopelessly adrift."

"But a shuttle might have a better chance," Hamill spoke up, "I could fly just close enough to make the ship out on sensors and send its location back."

"This all assumes our teleporters have that kind of range," Creighton realized.

"Uh, even if all of this is possible," Suresh said, "We couldn't do it from here. There's no way our enemies would overlook that much power and last time I checked, ID portals you can pack in a suitcase and bring with you are still in the RnD phase."

That was true, for once Saberhagen regretted deciding their teleporter devices made setting up a portal in headquarters unnecessary.

Still, working on a solution beat standing around worrying, "We'll work with one of the less travelled portals, make it look like it's malfunctioning and not safe to use. Creighton, Ms. Street, talk to the other scientists, figure out how much power we'd need, how to generate it and preferably, how to hide it. Stephen, " He addressed Hamill by his first name, "Assemble a team to go down and grab a shuttle at a moment's notice. Let's move, people!"

They mobilized, but at first Creighton whisphered to Saberhagen, "This mole must mean a lot for you to go to all this trouble to get her back."

"What, don't be an ass, Creighton," Saberhagen growled, "If the Jaridians get hold of an ID-capable ship before we're ready for them there's not going to be an earth for us to save!"

"Oh, is that all?. Well, good to know you have your priorities straight," Creighton headed toward Street and the other scientists.

"Hang in there, Erika," Saberhagen muttered once no one was close enough to hear, "We're coming for you."

While the cell put themselves to work on the mothership's rescue, Vosser and her squad stood guard in the ship's engine room. In a last ditch effort to halt the hijacker's progress the ship had ejected its ID engine core. Consequently the ship had stopped, but was now adrift and, according to communications she had overheard, trapped inside some sort of 'ID space bubble', unable to move or return to normal space.

Then once the presence of a replicant on board was confirmed Volunteer squads were sent to protect key sections- nobody was to be left alone. Except for Da'an, Zo'or and the bridge crew even the Taelons had all gathered in the same spot; though it seemed that spot's exact location was something the humans on board did not need to know.

Casually reaching a hand to the side of her helmet, Vosser tuned it's earpiece to the listening devices Saberhagen (or more accurately, Sabehagen's man Suresh) had managed to hide on the mothership's bridge.

"-The ship's weapons breach the bubble?" she recognized Da'an's voice.

"We'd need power from the weapons diverted to the thrusters, we don't have enough for both," Liam answered, though Vosser had deduced it was really the replicant she'd earlier seen accessing the ID drive long before now, "The shuttles' weapons might be up to the task, however."

A shuttle! Vosser though she found a way. Except she couldn't offer to fly one without the bridge crew realizing she had spied on their exchange; and she would have to get away from the squad to commandeer a craft.

Then she remembered what the replicant had done earlier. Heading to the nearest console; she first made sure no eyes were directed her way then hacked the system to set off a false intruder alarm in another section.

"It's the replicant! Volunteers, move out!" The squad leader bellowed; in their rush to confront the intruder none of them noticed Vosser break off and head to the shuttle bay.

Two shuttles lanced out before the mothership, Kincaid piloting one, Marquette the other. Once in place both of them vaulted blasts into the so-called bubble, trying to breach a passage capable of accommodating the mothership's bulk. Suddenly the ship's bridge informed Liam of a power failure on a deck near the mothership's outer wall. Deducing sabotage on the part of the replicant Liam bolted toward the afflicted area while Marquette continued with her task.

Homing in on the dark section Liam used the shuttle's armaments to punch a hole into the flesh of the mothership itself and the sudden rush of air out through the breach carried the replicant with it. However before Kincaid could fire on the replicant as well a rapidly approaching third shuttle caught the automaton with the tractor beam on its underside and pulled the replicant in before blasting its own way out of the bubble, ignoring Kincaid's hails all the while.

Kincaid almost took off in pursuit but, worrying that once separated from the mothership this far out in ID space he might not find his way back, instead opted to go back and help Marquette.

On distant earth, two of Saberhagen's people, disguised as civil servant technicians worked to modify a cordoned off portal on the Calgary streets. Another of Saberhagen's lieutenants by the name of Elijah Reid posed as their supervisor, awaiting orders from above to activate it.

While this happened Street and Creighton approached Saberhagen with a possible solution to their power quandary; instead of amassing the energy from a single source they might be able to hack earthbound power lines, diverting sufficient energy from multiple transporters all at once. However, even if successful this would cause massive blackouts. They would get one chance to teleport the mothership back this way and one chance only, and that was assuming all else worked out.

Running out of time and lacking in alternatives, Saberhagen told them to get ready to make the attempt once he gave the word. The modifications complete, Reid had his men activate the portal, then reported things were ready on his end.

The cell chose a Taelon shuttle resting on the airpad atop a Shanghai high-rise to commandeer for the extraction. Armed guards stared out into the night sky but behind them Hamill and three other cell soldiers materialized above the roof entrance. With their skrills they vaporised the local security, leaving no witnesses or bodies available for an autopsy; then leapt down to the floor of the airpad and rushed to the shuttle.

As his men settled in the passenger seats Hamill took the pilot's chair, skilfully defeating all security measures including the craft's transponder as well as protocols that would have forced the shuttle out of ID space if it attempted to clear Earth's atmosphere. He was seconds away from closing the cockpit when the call came.

"ALL SQUADS, ABORT THE MISSION!" The words transmitted both to Hamill's squad and Reid's simultaneously.

"What the hell?" Hamill spat back, "Why?"

"REPEAT, ABORT THE MISSION AND RETURN TO BASE!" Hamill grumbled as he and his team teleported back, he did not like killing somebody for no reason. Reid and his men also returned, but not before overloading the portal first; once it exploded no evidence of their tampering would be found.

On their return Hamill, who under most circumstances accepted Saberhagen's word as if the man outranked God Almighty, bore down on his leader about to demand an explanation. Before he could even open his mouth Saberhagen merely pointed to the view screen and said, "Look."

Between the view and the distant earth two shuttles pulled the mothership with their tractor beams.

"They towed it out of ID space about ten seconds ago," Suresh told him.

Hamill cursed himself; aside from the lives he and his took, Street and Creighton could have caused much unnecessary destruction, "But what about the replicant?" he asked, then pointing to Saberhagen, "What about his mole?"

"I haven't been able to pick up the replicant, but one of the Volunteers is unaccounted for- and so is one of their shuttles."

'Where is she?' Saberhagen wondered, 'What's happened to her?'


	6. Chapter 6

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict fic

The Mole no Longer on the Mothership

Having found and disabled its transponder, Erika Vosser closed the shuttle cockpit and activated the virtual glass canopy. With so much power diverted to key systems that suddenly lacked in power and the crew's preoccupation with getting the Taelon mothership out of whatever kind of "bubble" it was supposedly sealed in, there was little doubt she could force her self out of the shuttlebay without being stopped.

However finding the replicant would make searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack look easy and Vosser just didn't have that kind of time; once she cleared the shuttlebay they would be on to her. She continued to eavesdrop on the comm channels, hoping to hear a clue to the replicant's location.

Finally one came; the replicant was sabotaging systems close to the mothership's outer hull, and Liam steered his shuttle that way to take the machine out. Waiting until enough time had passed, Vosser bolted out and headed for the same section.

About thirty yards beneath her she saw Kincaid's shuttle blast a hole into the mothership's outer wall, sudden decompression forcing the replicant out into ID space where Kincaid prepared to blast it as well.

Vosser was quicker, and had already prepared her shuttle to grab the replicant. Before Kincaid could fire his second shot a section of her shuttle's underside opened up and a tractor beam emitted from within pulled the repilcant inside after which the open section resealed. Hearing Kincaid's repeated demands to identify herself, Vosser instead chose to concentrate on steering toward the 'bubble' and using her craft's firepower to punch an escape path through.

Bolting clear to freedom, Vosser checked the sensors for pursuit by Kincaid or anybody else- there was none. With her training and the mothership's orientation, she calculated the right direction to earth and headed there at full speed.

Once she was long out of sensor range, Vosser looked behind at her prize. The replicant lay inert, under a dome of virtual glass that had automatically formed upon arming the tractor beam, intended to protect pilot and passengers from raw interdimensional space or the cold void of normal space.

"I had to blow my cover to get you away from there, I hope you were worth it," she spat before turning back to her flying. For close to a quarter of an hour the trip was uneventful; until something caused the craft to lurch slightly. An alarm sounded- the virtual glass dome holding the replicant was shut off! Vosser whipped out her sidearm and swung it to her right; a hand grabbed then crushed the energy pistol's barrel. As she looked into the repilcant's face she saw one like that of the aliens the Volunteer Corps were ostensibly created to defend the rest of humankind against. Some kind of jolt shot into her from behind and Vosser lost consciousness. She would not regain it for a very long time.

Vosser slowly awoke to find herself lying on her back- in the very spot the replicant had lain before. Turning her head to the right she saw the replicant- still wearing the form of a live Jaridian- piloting the shuttle, though she had no illusions that it was giving her a ride home.

She reached her hand out to see it repelled by the virtual glass that gone down at the worst possible time before. The alien automaton heard the sound of her hand clashing with the energy field and turned to regard her.

After a pause that seemed an eternity it spoke, "Your assistance would be welcome in adapting the interdimensional drive to our ships. Do not force me to terminate you." It then returned to its piloting duties.

Vosser's head sank in despair. Then it hit her; the shuttle was still in ID space, there might be a way to stop it yet. Reaching down she found her global intact; maybe the replicant dismissed it since it wasn't a weapon in the strictest sense.

'And these things were supposed to be intelligent,' Vosser smirked while transmitting the correct codes to the shuttle's computer.

The craft started shaking side to side. While the replicant tried to diagnose the problem, the shuttle emerged into normal space against the replicant's orders; seconds after that the ID drive incinerated itself. The replicant turned to face Vosser a second time inquiring, "What have you done?"

"Activated the safeguards they put on these shuttles after the last time a Jaridian stole one," Vosser bragged, "By the time you get this tub home I'll be dead of old age."

The replicant gave no sign of being upset, it merely went back to steering the craft, "This shuttle was not headed for Jaridia. I corrected my course to a closer destination- the Jaridian armada. At top speed in normal space, we should make contact in approximately forty-eight earth hours."

Vosser's eyes went wide, "No, it can't be… You're lying!"

The replicant merely deactivated her virtual glass cage then answered, "See for yourself." Vosser stood up and looked ahead; in the distance the largest vessels of the fleet were visible as far-off blips, she dreaded seeing how massive they would be in just twelve hours. And all she had on her was her puny global.

"Perhaps your safeguards would have been more effective had they not returned the shuttle to normal space before destroying the interdimensional drive." Vosser glared at the replicant, pondering whether it was truly trying to be sarcastic.

Two Earth days later, a Sokhara class cruiser, one of the planet-destroying pride of the Jaridian war fleet received the signal of one of their replicants, that originated from an approaching Taelon shuttle of all things- a shuttle that also carried an unfamiliar life form. The cruiser directed the replicant to its shuttlebay and instructed it to bring the life form to the bridge when making its report.

The replicant greeted its superiors in its 'true' form, for some reason choosing to dispense with the face of the beings who had created it. Its right hand clutched Vosser's left arm in an unbreakable grip; though she knew it did no good, she never stopped battering at or kicking the automaton.

"This human life form," the replicant indicated Vosser with its other arm, "Captured me in my attempt to deliver the mothership, then proceeded to frustrate my efforts to bring you a craft with a working interdimensional drive."

The cruiser's captain, a Jaridian female snarled, "You should have terminated her before she could stop you!"

"I can correct that oversight immediately," the hand on the replicant's free arm transformed into what looked like some horrifying energy weapon.

"But you won't," A male Jaridian several steps behind the captain interjected, "Instead you will bring her to the ship's confinement centre, unharmed, so that I may question her more thoroughly myself."

"Understood. I obey." the replicant uttered.

Vosser glared at the Jaridian male who spoke up, 'Does he expect me to think he was being merciful?', as the lift doors sealed shut.

After being searched for and removed of any electronic equipment including her global and even her wristwatch, Vosser was confined to a cell in the ship's brig (as accurate a term as any to her). She had no way to measure how much time passed before the male Jaridian showed up; though his hands held not conventional torture tools but a tray of food- what looked like meat in one section and vegetable matter in the other, and a container of some sort of liquid.

"Reports from our probes said your species is omnivorous," the Jaridian said, "So I had the protein resequencers make something of both for you." He passed the tray through the invisible cell barrier with much less resistance than she had met when trying to walk through it herself.

Initially Vosser suspected the food was drugged to make her more talkative, but she had no idea how long she'd gone without eating and anything she knew could likely be tortured out of her anyway, so she ate. The grub was edible, if only that; the liquid tasted like sterilized water, which it probably was.

The Jaridian watched her finish the meal; when Vosser put the tray down it slid toward and through the barrier on its own.

"Now that that's out of the way," The Jaridian started, "Perhaps we can talk?"

Her reply was a short one, "Vosser, Erika. First Lieutenant. 231-427."

It took the Jaridian a moment to realize she only spoke her name, rank and serial number, "Ah. Very well then- Groltok, deputy-captain, 7061248-16," he chuckled and Vosser almost did likewise.

"So," Vosser sneered, "Is this supposed to be some Jaridian version of good cop/bad cop? 'Cause the bad cop seems to be late."

Groltok looked confused, "Good what now?"

"I'm not telling you anything you can use against the Taelons," She snapped, "It's not like you need help from me anyway."

Groltok cocked a brow, or would have if he or any of his ilk had hair, "And why would you think that?"

Vosser glowered, "Don't patronize me; I know your kind are mopping the universe with the Taelons- they try to hide it from us, but we know."

"Really?" Groltok pondered these words, "It seems the Taelons are more gulled by Jaridian propaganda than those it is intended for."

"Oh please," Vosser shot back, "I've seen the star charts, the Jaridians are taking more territory from the Taelons-"

"And do you know what controls those territories?" Groltok interrupted, "Machines, similar to the one that brought you to this ship, eternally unfailing. Those who designed and created those machines however, are a different matter, faring just as bad as the Taelons in their own way.

"We breed like Ruhkjes, true, but our bodies are literally burning up, and most of us combust like a nova star shortly after reaching what our ancestors once called adulthood," as he spoke his tone escalated from calm to rage, "And those are the ones who live long enough to be born!"

Groltok punctuated those words by slamming the wall with his fist; Vosser actually jumped when he did so. He turned his alien eyes away but despite the intensity of his words, she was not convinced they weren't just lies uttered to gain her sympathy.

When he spoke again, his tone was one of sorrow, "But that is nothing compared to the trauma inflicted upon our souls," as he said this he met her gaze again, "Did you know for centuries scientists among our kind have been trying to warn us that certain technologies used in our war efforts will cause our homeworld to implode?" Vosser's eyes went wide, "It's true. But the fact is most of us no longer even care. They're so overcome by their hatred they would welcome extinction- as long as the Taelons taste it first."

In that last statement Groltok's voice cracked with despair and finally convinced Vosser she was not watching a performance. She considered making a plea for his help; of course even if what Groltok said was true it was no guarantee he would help her cause but she was too far from home to ever get back there, what could she lose by trying?

"Groltok," she said tentatively, "What if I told you I was part of a group of humans secretly working to overthrow the Taelons?" the alien's face betrayed surprise, "That's the real reason I tried to take the replicant, so we could use its weapons against them- we tried before with the probe your people sent to disrupt the Commonality.

"We have scientists of our own- some of them figured out a technology the Taelons never could. Maybe our doctors could also find a way to stop this 'burning up' that's happening to your people."

Groltok stayed silent for a long pause; from the changing expressions on his face it seemed he wanted to believed her but feared to at the same time, "There is nothing that would lift my heart more than for what you're saying to be true. Alas the others on this fleet have heard too much of Taelon deception to accept your word alone."

Before Vosser could respond the ship shuddered for a moment after which a klaxon sounded. From speakers hidden somewhere Vosser heard the female Jaridian's voice, "Return to the bridge Groltok, and bring the human with you."

Groltok looked as confused as Vosser, "Yes Captain Wynrok, immediately."

The lift doors parted and Vosser followed Groltok onto the bridge. What they saw on the viewscreen caught them both by surprise; before them was a near unimaginable mass of what looked like molten metal suddenly cooling in the vacuum of space.

Wynrok did not wait for them to ask any questions, "What you are seeing has destroyed much of our fleet. It is a volume of magma that the Taelons have thrown at us through interdimensional space- from the human's home planet."

Vosser shrank back, "If they have my people didn't help them, not willingly."

"Whether the aid was willing or not is irrelevant. The fact remains that your world and your people have contributed to the deaths of many of our brothers and sisters today. Do not think we will not see them avenged."

Groltok lowered his head in despair, then turned to a lesser crewman, "Return the human to her cell. If any harm comes to her you will answer to me personally, understood?"

The Jaridian gulped, then nodded an affirmative before taking Vosser's arm and leading her back to the lift. She went with him quietly, too shaken by what she had seen and heard to show any resistance.

The massing Jaridian ships would take time to move on to another system under the best conditions and the need to manoeuvre around the mass of magma made conditions far from the best; unfortunately this meant the Taelons could use their new weapon against the fleet again before it could leave the system.

Later that cycle Groltok visited the captain in her office to plead for Vosser's life and her people, telling her what Vosser had told him about her fellow humans and their struggle against the Taelons.

Sadly Wynrok laughed in his face, just as he expected, "Do you hear yourself, Groltok? She tried to steal one of our replicants!"

"Yes," Groltok answered, "So her people could learn of its weapons and make more with which to fight the Taelons! She knew of the probe we sent to interfere with the commonality-"

"Because her fellow humans found it and stopped it from performing its task! Does that sound like something that enemies of the Taelons would do?"

"They would if they're not willing to pay for victory with the existance of their race, their entire world!" Groltok lashed back at his superior with a vitriol he had never directed toward her before.

"Look at what this war is doing to our kind," he implored, "Is crushing the Taelons worth it if we destroy ourselves in the process?"

Wynrok opened her mouth to answer but before she could someone from the bridge called for her attention. As they appeared an officer indicated the sight on the viewscreen.

Something had gone wrong with the Taelons' new toy. Their latest volley of magma toward the fleet had inadvertently created a wormhole- suddenly the Jaridians could close the gap between their fleet's location and earth!

Wynrok grinned with murderous glee, "Toward the wormhole, full speed. Signal the fleet to follow us."

"Order the fleet to stay where they are," Groltok countermanded.

"Groltok," his captain hissed.

"What if the Taelons want our whole armada in a wormhole they could collapse around it? This could all be an elaborate trap! And even if it's not, one Sokhara class craft should be all we need."

Wynrok glowered but saw the wisdom in his words, "Very well, have the fleet remain, we will do this alone."

The ship plunged into the wormhole, within minutes they would be upon the Taelon mothership- as well as the humans who would help them.

"Bring the human to the bridge Groltok," the captain commanded, "I want her to witness firsthand the doom of her masters- and her world."

Groltok sighed as he left for the brig.

Vosser saw Groltok as he approached the cell. She tried to speak to him but he wouldn't answer her as he removed her from the cell and dragged her to the lift. However just before instructing the lift to take them to the bridge he hesitated; looked Vosser in the eye, then in a final moment of defiance ordered they be taken to the shuttle bay instead.

"What's going on?" Vosser asked with feelings of confusion alongside fear.

Finally Groltok seemed to hear her, "The Taelons' new weapon has accidentally created a wormhole. This ship is crossing it to attack earth."

Vosser's face paled, "We have to stop it!"

"No need. The ship is doomed, I knew that when I saw the faces of the captain and crew. The faces of those who have already sacrificed themselves for a grab at vengeance. Whatever happens, I must get you off this craft."

As the two entered the bay Vosser saw the shuttle that brought her here but Groltok insisted they needed a craft that the Taelons would not see. He chose a shuttle built for reconnaissance; once He and Vosser were belted in he activated the vessel's cloak and commanded the bay doors to part allowing them egress.

The craft exited and made for the wormhole's exit. It sped past a Taelon shuttle facing down the cruiser; the shuttle ejected something toward the larger ship before retreating. The cruiser fired on the projectile, apparently thinking it some sort of missile; in truth it was the smaller craft's ID drive and the resulting blast collapsed this portion of the wormhole, destroying the cruiser in the process.

"Well your homeworld has escaped oblivion this time," Groltok uttered as he piloted his craft, "And it seems the Taelons have not detected us."

Vosser, though gladdened by his words, had all this time kept one eye on the controls the Jaridian had manipulated, seeing how he cloaked and steered the craft for the benefit of Saberhagen and his cell, "I need to reach my faction. Can you show me how to contact them from here? They're on the other side of the moon-" she then pointed toward the Taelon moon complex rotating away from them, "Than that."

Groltok's face betrayed a hint of suspicion but finally he nodded and walked her through signalling her compatriots.

"Hello Gene? It's me, Erika; are you there Gene? Suresh?"

"Erika?" Saberhagen's voice came through loud, clear and bewildered, "We thought you were dead! What happened?"

"Long story. I'm in a cloaked Jaridian shuttle at these coordinates," she sent them the craft's position.

"Okay, just give us a minute to receive you," Gene signalled back.

Groltok started to show unease, even more so a few moments later; when following a flash of light the craft was suddenly inside a concrete structure!

"It's alright," Vosser touched his arm and kept her voice calm, "They're friends, I promise. De-cloak the ship."

Inside the hideout a short distance from the now-visible craft stood Saberhagen and the rest of his cell. Just prior to teleporting the craft inside Saberhagen had ordered his people to withdraw their skrills up under their sleeves as he had done himself, thinking that the sight of the symbiotes might panic any Jaridians inside. However, they each kept a hand close to the newly developed energy weapons the cell had recently 'liberated' from earthbound arms manufacturers.

Saberhagen turned to Creighton who was consulting a sensor console, "There's two people inside," Creighton said, "Real people- not replicants."

Finally doors on the craft opened up; a Jaridian stepped out nervously, while Vosser ran toward Saberhagen and hugged him close. Then she gestured toward her alien friend, "This is Groltok, he helped get me back."

Saberhagen nodded, then extended his hand to Groltok, "You've returned one of our people to us, for that alone we are in your debt."

Groltok at last concluded he was among friends; he approached Saberhagen with a smile, but abruptly stopped. His body shuddering he started backing away, managing to yell "GET BACK!" then was immolated before their eyes.

"NO!" Vosser screamed, untangling herself from Saberhagen she crouched before the ashes that lay where Groltok stood.

The others stood in stunned silence. Eventually Saberhagen crouched beside Vosser and gently prodded her for answers.

"It's what's happening to them," she muttered, "It's what's happening to all of them." Not sure what else to do Saberhagen put his arm around her.

Two days later. Saberhagen, Street and Creighton watched Vosser show Suresh the controls she had seen Groltok use and instruct her on. Saberhagen had suggested she take some time to grieve but Vosser insisted she needed something to do, and returning to the mothership was out as the Taelons would simply have too many questions she couldn't answer. So she had started instructing the others of the cell in what she knew of the craft's operation.

"Miss Street," Saberhagen turned to her, "Sometime I would like for you to help Erika and Suresh figure out the rest of this shuttle's systems and try to decode the Jaridian's written language. I don't count on us actually getting hold of one of their battleships but anything we learn could be useful in the days to come." Street nodded at the request.

Saberhagen turned back, "Two empires are crumbling," he observed, "When they finally do, will they take us and Earth with them ? Can we stop them?"

Above a planet light years distant, scant kilometres away from a new satellite of frozen magma, a shuttle with a Taelon pilot emerged from ID space. The visible ships of the Jaridian armada had moved on to another system; there was a good chance some cloaked vessels lie in wait, but the potential gain of this sojourn was deemed worth the jeopardy.

After about a minute passed and nothing cloaked or otherwise attacked, the pilot commenced his mission. Flying circles around the frozen magma until he finally found what he sought.

The aft section of one of the Jaridan warships protruded from the cooled magma. The pilot detected only microscopic life signs; just as well since any surviving crew would only complicate his task. However he did find something else- exactly what he had come here to seek.

The pilot smiled. Perhaps the fortunes of his species were about to change after all.


	7. Chapter 7

An Unknown Variable

an Earth: Final Conflict

Other Variables

Suresh made his way to the mess hall. Possibly the widest area in the installation, most of its space consisted of a row of long tables with seats attached. He filled a tray and sat himself down to eat. He looked around; this early in the AM, with barely anybody else here at the moment, one would likely not believe how many people occupied the structure.

"Hey- mind if I sit here?" Suresh looked in the direction of the voice and saw Street standing opposite him.

"What? No, go right ahead," He answered.

Street seated herself and picked at the mass of vegetation in her tray, "Whose idea was it to grow edible moss to eat?" she asked.

"According to Gene, the guys who designed this place," Suresh told her, "The ones who wanted it to be part of a larger colony, it was supposed to double as a food source and a way to recycle the air."

They munched their meal, though Street grimaced slightly; most of the cell had been here longer than her and gotten more accustomed to the taste of genetically engineered lichen. When she washed down a portion of the meal, she looked at Suresh with a mischievous smile.

Suresh started to feel nervous, "Why are you smirking like that?"

Street mad sure no one else had their attention, then reached into her coat and pulled out a pair of the gaudiest spectacles anyone would wear.

Suresh's eyes bulged, "You didn't," he pleaded; when she nodded he fought to keep his voice down, "When? How?"

"Last night," she leaned closer, "I found the ones you made, then used one of your guys' teleporters to go down to his room. I made the switch and got out before he could wake up."

"But why would you? I thought you told me this guy was your friend."

"That's why I did it," Street said to him, "He's fighting the Taelons too, remember. This way I can keep an eye on him, maybe help him out if he gets into trouble."

"You won't if Gene finds out and skrills both of us," Suresh hissed back. Before any more could be said Saberhagen's voice came out from ceiling speakers, "Suresh, Dr. Creighton, we need you at the command centre."

"Coming," he yelled back. Washing down the rest of his meal, he whispered to Street, "Don't tell anybody what you've done," before he rose and bolted out of the room.

Suresh looked to Saberhagen, and Hamill when he entered, "What's up?"

Hamill answered first, "A Jaridian probe was detected heading for Earth. Da'an's embassy shot it down a few seconds ago."

"Intercepted communications suggested it might not have been destroyed," Saberhagen added, "If so, we need to find it."

"I'm on it," taking his place at the console Suresh began to work his magic, "Found it- it's in an open space, looks damaged but still mostly intact," he put the location on the view screen and magnified it enough to make the probe visible.

Saberhagen looked hopeful but cautious, he asked, "Is it leaking radiation or any possible contaminants?"

Suresh didn't find any; but before anyone had the chance to relax Creighton pointed out, "That doesn't mean it's not leaking any radiation we just can't detect."

Saberhagen mulled the words over, "Well, sooner or later either the Taelons or the Resistance will find the device and grab it. Let them- if nothing happens to them and it looks safe, then we'll try to steal the thing."

Creighton turned to look at him, "Oh so your people aren't expendable but theirs' are?" he sneered.

Saberhagen chose not to dignify his sarcasm with an answer.

Heavy weapon on her shoulder, Resistance fighter Julia Cook vaporised the Taelon shuttle in one shot. Her compatriots rushed toward the probe, grabbing it and retreating before reinforcements could arrive.

Hiding in an empty warehouse, Augur beamed at their prize, "Cloaking technology, advanced weapons, the Taelons won't know what hit them!"

Unfortunately neither did he, as unseen pursuers closed in on him and his friends, knocking them out before any of them could notice.

An hour passed back on Saberhagen's base. Returning to the command centre, he saw the body heat signatures of the resistance fighters in the warehouse on the viewscreen. He turned to Suresh to ask, "Any changes?"

"None of them have dropped dead if that's what you mean," Suresh replied, "Far as I can tell they've been studying that probe since they got it there."

"They haven't moved at all?" Saberhagen found that suspicious, "Have they sent any transmissions?"

Suresh checked for any, "No, at least not on any of the frequencies we're monitoring."

This extended period of inactivity seemed very wrong. Saberhagen had Suresh step aside and worked the console, "Son of a- someone else has hacked the GPS satellites! They're sending false signals to anyone using them, including us! I want a camera drone in that warehouse right NOW!"

Liam, Augur, and Julia fought their way back to consciousness and found themselves each sitting in a metal chair, to which their wrists and ankles were cuffed. They looked at their surroundings; which amounted to a dark room with a floor of grey concrete, empty except for themselves. A light fixture above their heads provided the only source of illumination, outside its halo visibility was nonexistent.

Julia spoke first, "Won't know what hit them?"

"Last time I ever use that expression," Augur groaned.

Julia tired to move the chair she was chained to. Unfortunately all three were more than securely bolted to the concrete floor- they were not going anywhere, "We're going to die and we can't even fight back," She lamented.

"If they wanted us dead they'd have killed us back at the warehouse," Liam corrected her, "The fact that whoever did this went to the trouble of bringing us here alive says they want answers from us."

"Whoever?" Julia asked, "You saying it's not the Taelons who jumped us?"

Liam looked around, "It could be, though this isn't their usual style."

"They could have got someone else to do the interrogating," Augur contributed, "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Yes, they do seem to have a phobia about getting their hands dirty, don't they?" The voice came from the darkness. A man and a woman stepped into the light; both wore military-style garb but without any marking that could have identified name, rank, or even nationality.

Julia glared at their captors, "I don't know who your are-"

"Fortunately I know very well who you are, Miss Cook," The man interrupted, before he turned to Augur, "Mister Devareux," then Liam, "And the man who claims to be Major Liam Kincaid."

"Claims to?" Julia raised her brow, "Why would you say it like that?"

Liam answered the question himself, "Because he's the real Major Kincaid," then met his captor's gaze, "Aren't you?"

"Colonel now, actually" the man answered, "You three are in the custody of Operation Dark Knight, a task force assembled when the Taelons made first contact, in case they turned out not to be the benevolent space brothers they claimed."

"Hold up," Julia barked, "If he's the real Liam Kincaid," Julia swung her head to glare at her fellow resistance fighter, "Then who the hell are you?"

"And while we're asking questions," The officer accompanying Colonel Kincaid finally finding her voice, "Why drag the alien probe on foot all the way to that warehouse instead of disappearing with it like you did the last one?"

All three stared at the woman officer, then Augur spoke, "Last one? Disappear? What are you talking about?"

"The device that crashed on Australia sometime back," the lieutenant spat, evidently of the mind Augur was patronizing her, "I was watching the probe, I saw someone show up out of thin air, grab it and-"

"And that wasn't one of yours," Colonel Kincaid realized, seeing the confusion in the eyes of his captives.

"If you're referring to when something was interfering with the Taelon Commonality," Liam answered, "We never even found what caused the disruption, let alone disappear with it."

"Then who did?" The Colonel pondered out loud.

Street entered the command centre, attracted by the commotion within. Most of the cell was present and watching the large view screen which showed a first-person view of the interior of an empty warehouse, provided by the camera drone Hamill was suing to scan the structure for clues to what happened to the structure's most recent occupants.

Suresh turned to Saberhagen, "Gene, I'm really sorry about this I swear-"

"Suresh," Saberhagen crossed his arms, "You can keep apologizing for this screw-up or you can help find a way to fix it, now which sounds more productive to you?" Suresh fell quiet.

"Screw-up? What's going on?" Street asked to pretty much anybody in the room.

Creighton turned his head to answer her, "Your resistance buddies planetside were studying another Jaridian probe. Seems someone has grabbed it- and them- from right under our noses."

'Augur!' Street realized, then asked, "Well, what about the probe's power signature? Can't we get their location by tracking that?"

"We've tried," Saberhagen answered, "Either it's gone cold, or their captors have come up with a way to hide it."

Those words daunted Street until she remembered something, "What about Augur's glasses?"

"What about Augur's glasses?" Hamill asked, while Saberhagen glowered.

"Were they left behind?" Street tried not to yell. Hamill looked over the camera drone's footage, the spectacles in question were nowhere in sight.

Saberhagen turned to Suresh and he was obviously not pleased, "Augur-cam?" he hissed.

Suresh, held up his hands, "Boss man, I can explain…"

Hamill bit, "What's an Augur-cam?"

"Cameras hidden in the lenses of Augur's glasses," Suresh was giddy like a proud child, "So we could see what he sees. I got the idea from an old spy movie-"

"And I distinctly ordered him not to go through with it," Saberhagen seethed, "Augur doesn't goes into the field often enough to justify the risk of planting spyware on his person like that-"

"It's not Suresh's fault," Street spoke up, "I made the switch- he didn't even find out until it was done."

Saberhagen turned to confront Street, stalking toward her as he growled, "You went behind my back…"

"And because she did we might be able to find them!" Suresh shouted from the top of his voice.

Saberhagen stopped. He turned to Suresh and seemed about to say something, but simply nodded then motioned for Suresh to make the attempt.

While this was going on Colonel Kincaid's lieutenant watched over Liam, Augur and Julia, who were still cuffed to the metal chairs. They speculated about what the colonel and lieutenant had told them; their guard listened to the discourse, but did not contribute to it.

"This guy that appeared out of nowhere," Augur asked, "Could he have been something sent by the Jardians?"

"Then why tamper with something that was hurting the Taelons?" Liam pointed out, "If whatever he grabbed was what was messing with the commonality, the Jaridians were probably the ones who launched it the first place.

"What she described sounds more like Creighton's teleporter, but he blew himself up so it couldn't be him- so who was it?"

"Well, I think we can rule out the blue boys from outer space," Julia added, "If they had teleportation back then there wouldn't be a resistance now."

At Saberhagen's HQ, a mute, slightly distorted live feed appeared on the view-screen. A woman in uniform stood inside the room's only light source staring toward the camera. The camera made two turns in opposite directions, to the right was Liam Kincaid, to the left the hothead of the movement Julia Cook.

"It's working," Suresh chirped, "We're seeing what Augur sees."

Saberhagen nodded, "But that only helps if we know where we're seeing it from."

Suresh traced the signal, the monitor showed an image of mountains from space, "Looks like they're in a bunker in the Colorado Rockies."

"Now aren't you glad I disobeyed you?" Street chirped.

Saberhagen glared at her, "I don't recommend that you make a habit of it."

They stared at the bunker's location, eventually Hamill broke the silence, "We know where they are; it should be easy enough to anonymously tip off Sandoval, get him to distract them for us to make a move."

"Yeah," Creighton sneered, "Just like Doors alerted the Taelons to you guys."

Hamill started to protest but Saberhagen stopped him, "He's right, we can't let Doors drag us down to his level," He pondered the issue briefly, "Prepare one of our holoprojectors; We'll send them a warning of what's to come, then leak their location to Sandoval."

Saberhagen's people scrambled; Creighton looked all around him as he vocalised, "Can somebody explain to me how that's any better?"

In the bunker the lieutenant stared intently at her three prisoners until a sound off to her left got her attention. An illusion of black smoke in humanoid form faced her, "You don't have much time," a distorted voice said, "Sandoval knows where you are." Then device projecting the image then exploded.

The lieutenant turned to her captives, but saw they were as clueless as she was. Finally she contacted her superior, "Pull your pants up Colonel, the in-laws are paying a visit!"

From under a camo-tarp Suresh trained his macro-binocs on the bunker; after the GPS debacle Saberhagen decided eyes on the actual ground were more trustworthy. The shuttles carrying the Sandoval and his attack force tore out of ID-space, and Suresh contacted his leader, "They're here- whatever you're going to do, you better be quick about it."

Hamill and his strike team got ready, donning helmets that would conceal their faces, thick gloves and nondescript jackets that would hide their skrills; rather than risk tipping off anybody that someone other than the Taelons had such symbiotes Saberhagen ordered they use energy weapons on this mission only.

Vosser handed Hamill a communications device from Grol'Tok's shuttle, showing him how to transmit a signal to the Jaridian replicant that would identify them as its friends. Hopefully that would get it to come back with them peacefully.

"One last thing," Saberhagen decreed, "These aren't volunteers you'll be facing- shoot to stun." He'd always ordered no witnesses before, but they nodded and adjusted their weapons accordingly.

Street relaxed upon hearing those words, "He had me worried there."

Creighton turned his head toward her, "Worried?"

"Well yeah, I thought he was going to risk killing Augur."

"Why would he?" Creighton replied, "The man hasn't outlived his usefulness yet."

Deep in the bunker Colonel Kincaid's lieutenant watched the only entrance nervously. Behind her stood Liam, Augur and Julia; the three had not only been unchained but given their weapons back, a testament to the seriousness of the situation.

Out of the void a helmeted figure emerged shooting the lieutenant in the back. Her former prisoners whirled around to shoot this intruder yet before any of the three could pull the trigger Hamill and two other cell members appeared and dropped them from behind.

No one in the team spoke, they all knew their tasks and none was to chance an identifiable voice being overheard or recorded. Hamill and the two with him moved out to seek the replicant, while the fourth approached the unconscious resistance fighters. Through the visual sensor in his visor he transmitted their location back to Saberhagen so he could teleport them back to their headquarters; though Saberhagen and his followers would clash with them one day, for now they were still on the same side. The operative then teleported himself back to base as ordered.

Expecting attack from without, the officers guarding the replicant were caught unaware by Hamill and his troops. As those soldiers fell unconscious, the alien probe's sensors perceived energy weapons fire and in response took on a humanoid shape, one arm transforming into a weapon of its own.

As the replicant turned to fire, Hamill sent the friend signal the way Vosser instructed him to. The probe stood down. Hamill and his fighters huddled around the device, then teleported themselves and it back to base immediately.

As the three returned, amidst their huddle came a bright flash alongside a strange, loud noise from which they shrank back. Saberhgen and Creighton stepped forward to investigate; while Saberhagen's men had returned intact, the object of their raid was now in pieces- very small pieces at that.

"The Taelons' weapons," Creighton hypothesised, "They could have done more damage than we thought, too much for it to hold itself together in teleportation.

Saberhagen simply nodded, he said nothing but practically radiated frustration. He turned and walked off; Creighton started to leave as well but Street took him by the arm and led him back to the probe's remains.

Almost two days later Saberhagen came to Creighton's quarters; earlier Creighton had contacted him saying he and Street had something he should see. Saberhagen walked inside; Creighton and Street sat at a table; Creighton was fiddling with a "hi-tech" ski mask, a head covering designed to change between different colours and styles- an invention that catered to those with more money than common sense. Street was working with similarly designed gloves.

Saberhagen coughed, "You have something to show me?"

"We do actually," Creighton said, "Miss Street and I went through what was left of the probe, and sorted out parts of its appearance-changing tech. Tech which," he put on then activated the mask- "We were able to adapt to these." Suddenly from the neck up he became a dead ringer for Saberhagen himself! Somehow his voice even sounded like the cell leader's.

Saberhagen recoiled, though more out of surprise than fear, "If I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes…"

"That's not all," Street cut in, "With adapting the tech to these gloves, we should be able to fake someone's fingerprints even. I know it's not the BFG you were hoping for, but it's something."

"To say the least," Saberhagen exhaled, "You can make more of these?"

"Enough for a few people," Creighton answered, "More if we figure out how to copy the replication tech and engineer our own."

Saberhagen walked out, laughing for the first time in days.


	8. Chapter 8

**An Unknown Variable**

**The Turning Point**

As he approached the command center Saberhagen heard sounds of levity; he found Street, Hamill, Creighton and Vosser surrounding a device floating about eight feet off the floor, as well as Suresh smiling at them from his console. In Hamill's hand was the device from Groltok's shuttle, which he had used to calm a Jaridian probe in a (mostly) abortive attempt to recover its technological secrets; now he seemed to be using it to make the hovering contraption dip and rise in the air.

Vosser saw their leader first and got Hamill's attention with a tap on the shoulder. Turning to Saberhagen he smiled, "Check it out, boss man- this is a probe from the craft Groltok returned Vosser in, I've figured out how to control it," to emphasise the claim he even showed his leader how to activate the tiny device's cloak- vanishing from sight for an instant, then revealing itself the next.

Saberhagen nodded. Over the past few weeks Hamill, himself and most of the cell had learned much from the vessel in which Groltok returned one of their own to them, only to perish painfully in a manner so many of his species suffered. The craft that was in a way the Jaridian's parting gift was easy enough to figure out how to operate, and from its stores of data most of the cell had even gained a good grasp of the aliens' written language. It was regrettable the ship was unarmed- presumably Groltok had chosen the craft, at least partly, because it had no weapons that might end up in Taelon hands. It was possible Saberhagen or the others could figure out how to operate such weapons from what they'd gleaned, but the cell leader had little hope of finding himself on the command center of a Jaridian warship.

"Interesting," Saberhagen looked to Hamill, "You can observe what it sees through that?" he motioned to the controller in Hamill's hand.

Hamill turned to Suresh, "We can do one better than that, can't we?" as he directed the probe to rise until it nearly touched the ceiling Suresh worked his console- and suddenly a bird's eye view of the tops of their heads took up the entire viewscreen.

Creighton saw the look on Saberhagen's face- a look the 'great' leader wore when calculating how something shown to him could be used to his advantage, "You got something in mind?" the scientist asked.

"Yes, actually. I had originally planned to send one of our camera drones," Saberhagen started, "However this may be better- less chance of being noticed should somebody choose to look up. Stephen, cloak the probe again and keep it that way."

Hamill obeyed, Saberhagen then took out his teleporter and began to operate it. A brief flash showed where the invisible spy device had been hovering. Suddenly the viewscreen showed the floor of a building back on Earth, where camera crews set up for the approaching final debate between US President Thompson and his opponent Jonathan Doors. Yet while most cameras were set up facing the podia the politicians would be speaking from one was shifting its focus around the room- specifically where any security personnel would likely be stationed.

As they observed someone approached this cameraman; anticipating Saberhagen's order Suresh magnified the image. Everyone present recognized Companion Protector (and secret head of the so-called Resistance) Liam Kincaid. The probe only relayed visual information nothing could be heard, but the cameraman's clubbing Kincaid with the instrument of his employment and then bolting out the door spoke volumes.

They could have teleported the probe outside but it was quicker for Suresh to access the traffic cams, which showed Kincaid chasing the exposed spy into the Flat Planet Café, whose security Suresh also hacked in time to see Kincaid's quarry backed into a corner, the cameraman exchanging some shots with his pursuer- before turning his weapon on himself, vaporizing before the eyes of all who watched.

"Did he just…" Street couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"He did," Saberhagen continued, "Not many hired guns willing to die for their bosses."

"Or have access to firepower like that," Suresh pointed out. Energy weapons, like the one they had just seen in use, were a recent addition to modern warfare; most of them acquired by the Taelons who issued the weapons to their Volunteer Corps. A few had turned up on the black market or found their way into some resistance cells (including Saberhagen's, if it could still be called resistance now), but for the most part the forces of law had managed to keep the majority of them off the streets and away from most armies, "An implant maybe?"

Cyber-viral implants. Another ostensible gift from the Taelons to humanity, with the promise of enhanced mental capacities, though at the cost of independent will- something they always failed to mention.

"But surely the Taelons aren't that stupid," Hamill said, "They have to know killing Doors on live TV will only turn more people against them."

"Humans have failed to learn that lesson," Saberhagen pointed out, "Why should we fault non-humans for doing the same? And I'll admit few things would give me more joy than seeing our betrayer die a horrible death, but not if it makes him a martyr. So we're going to protect the bastard. Suresh, his son Joshua handles his security- hack into his global."

"I hacked that thing months ago," Suresh answered, "And I'm a little bit hurt that you forgot," nonetheless he accessed said device.

Conner Trust had just dried off from a shower and was dressing when his global activated, expecting it to be someone he knew he answered and found himself looking at the son of corporate mogul and aspiring world leader Jonathan Doors.

"I need better security for my father," Joshua got right down to business, "They say you're one of the best bodyguards there are."

"One of?" Conner's humorous tone belied his words. He told Joshua his rates and assured the businessman he could get to the debate in plenty of time. Joshua transmitted the down payment for his services and told him when to show up.

Conner had just closed the global shut when the room's lights went out- less than a second later something from behind put out his lights.

Joshua then contacted someone aboard the Taelon Mothership- specifically Ronald Sandoval. He told the Companion Protector he'd made the pretense of increasing his father's security, but made arrangements to ensure Sandoval's agent would get in unnoticed- and that any resistance that got in (which would have a much easier go at it than they should- also as arranged) would be focused on the wrong candidate.

Sandoval acknowledged the assurances then broke the connection. In truth he highly doubted Joshua's eagerness to betray his own father, no matter how rocky their relationship was. Yet Zo'or was utterly convinced, as if he knew something Sandoval didn't (and Sandoval would actually be surprised if that was not the case) and insisted things were going to plan.

Sandoval hoped so, he needed a victory now more than ever. The recent fiasco concerning the last Jaridian probe was particularly galling. Acting on an 'anonymous' tip (whose identity was still unknown to him despite his efforts) to the probe's location his volunteers had found the thieves ready for an attack; their first line of defense holding out long enough for the rest of them to somehow get away, the few bodies of their fallen identified as officers the American military had declared missing in action and denied giving any orders to steal a probe. As for the prize they'd found fragments of something of Jaridian make, none larger than a grain of sand and nowhere near enough to account for all of its mass; as if the device had fallen apart- but where had the rest of it gone?

As Sandoval mulled over this debacle he strode onto the Mothership bridge where his master awaited. Zo'or looked him in the eye and said but one word, "Report."

"The plan is moving on schedule," Sandoval started, "Doors Jr. has made sure Justin Corr will get in unnoticed. Corr himself has been instructed to shoot only to wound, Thompson will survive the attack."

"And you?" Zo'or pressed.

"I will be in position to silence Corr utterly once he has fulfilled his task."

"Of course you will," Zo'or failed to hide some snideness from his voice.

"You doubt my ability to preform the task?" Sandoval kept his tone calm, though his face betrayed some anger.

"Not at all. However, it seems an unseen hand has managed to influence recent events- the detonations underground, one of our volunteers absconding with the replicant that hijacked this vessel. Were you aware I ordered an autopsy on the body of Be'li?"

"I was not," Sandoval tried to picture a dissection of the renegade, a once-taelon somehow severed from the species' psychic commonality and regressed to something more primitive- by the Taelons' perspective, "Did they find anything interesting?"

"Nothing near as interesting," Zo'or looked to the ceiling, "As what they did not find."

Sandoval had no patience for another one of Zo'or's games, "As stimulating as this conversation has been," he struggled to keep his tone from sounding insolent, "There are tasks that require my immediate attention."

"Then see to them," Zo'or spat coldly.

Sandoval was only too glad to get out of the alien's sight.

Back on Saberhagen's lunar hideout plans were set into motion. Conner Trust lay on the same hospital bed that Creighton once had recovered in; in addition to keeping Trust sedated Okuda had, under Saberhagen's orders, temporarily numbed the auditory nerves in his ears lest he hear anything even while unconscious. Palm prints of both hands were taken and his eyelids forced open to scan his retinas; these were downloaded into the respective gloves and masks that Creighton and Street designed. A combination of frivolous human tech and what little the two had salvaged from the damaged Jaridian probe that came apart in the attempt to teleport it here, the mask and gloves would provide a near-perfect disguise- in theory, at least.

"This is a duplicate of the security headsets Door's security uses," Suresh handed the device to Hamill as the latter put on a jacket that concealed his skrill under a sleeve, "The difference is with this one we'll be able to contact you without them knowing. But I wouldn't recommend trying to reach us with it- unless you want the other bodyguards to ask who you're talking to."

"Right," Hamill put it in his pocket for the moment then donned the gloves; as he pulled the mask over his head he looked to the real Conner Trust asking his leader, "What are your plans for him?"

"We'll keep him here for now," Sabehagen started, "If you succeed we'll teleport him back to his apartment in the morning, with a few red herrings that combined with the headache he's likely to have should suggest he celebrated a job well done with some strong liquor. If you don't succeed, I suspect his fate will be the least of our problems."

Hamill nodded, activated the gloves and mask, and teleported himself down to Earth. The others, save for Dr. Okuda headed for the hideout's command center.

As they moved Creighton whispered to Saberhagen, "I'm a little surprised you didn't just skrill Trust once you had his handprints and retinas."

"Someone with his skills might prove useful someday. And if something should happen to endanger Hamill in disguise, leaving Trust's body somewhere it could be found should be enough to stop any searches."

Creighton shook his head; it never failed to bewilder him how easily Saberhagen sacrificed total strangers to 'look out for his own', as the man once stated.

The debate. Whilst Doors and Thompson bickered from their respective podia, Hamill watched for signs of trouble as any proper guard would. His altered earpiece transmitted everything that reached his ears back to base, while the cloaked spy device used earlier hovered above and broadcast a visual of the proceedings as well.

Saberhagen and most of his cell watched with unease. He saw Kincaid step away from Doors' podium to confront someone in the audience, ordering Suresh to magnify them he saw the someone was Julia Cook, another cell leader and one of the most confrontational of the lot to boot.

"Back up a bit," Saberhagen commanded, telling Suresh to stop when he could see enough to recognize others from Cook's cell.

"Didn't Kincaid tell them not to show up?" Street asked.

"I'd have been surprised if she actually did listen to him," Saberhagen responded. As they watched, Kincaid backed away from Cook rather than make more of a scene and left to patrol the building's interior.

Frowning, Saberhagen bade Suresh to scan Cook and her people more intensely; just as he suspected weapons signatures were present, though concealed, on all of them!

"Oh come on," Creighton spoke up this time, "No way they could've smuggled those in undetected that easily."

"No they couldn't have," Saberhagen pondered out loud, "Unless they were detected and security let them through anyway."

"Why would they do that?" Street asked.

"Yes, why…" Saberhagen's eyes grew wide as the answer hit him, "Because they wanted armed rebels present- as scapegoats!"

On the ground a commotion came from backstage of the debate. Hamill picked up an alert from Kincaid, as did Cook and her cell; the latter rushed to the resistance leader's aid and Hamill started to move when Saberhagen spoke.

"Doors isn't the target," Saberhagen said, "Thompson is- it's a setup!" turning, Hamill looked up- and saw a sniper on the catwalk raising his rifle.

Not enough time to aim his energy weapon, Hamill raised his right arm and shot a blast from his skrill, hoping nobody was looking in his direction.

Corr saw his target; remembering Sandoval's orders only to wound Thompson he took aim- but some flash from the corner of his eye slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet and causing him to swing his rifle in another direction. As he slammed against the rail behind him he unconsciously pulled the trigger just before he tumbled over- the sound of the shot was heard by all, the sound of his neck breaking when he hit the floor, not as much.

The crowd in attendance freaked out on hearing the rifle, as well both Doors and Thompson were moved to safety by their respective guards; this included the secret service agents who had been lying in wait to intercept Cook's cell, allowing the woman and her men to escape in the commotion. Capitalizing on the ruckus, Hamill made his way unnoticed to a broom closet and shut the door prior to teleporting to base.

Back on the moon, Hamill removed the mask and gloves. Looking at Saberhagen he expected at least at bare minimum a chewing out for firing his skrill where so many could see; but when he started to speak his leader just held up his hand.

"Never mind," Saberhagen said, "You're fortunate from where we saw no one paid you any attention. At the very least you denied the Taelons their victory."

"Good to know," Hamill nodded, "But I could've sworn I heard the rifle go off."

"It did," Suresh said, "And you won't believe who got hit," at that he pulled up security camera footage that showed the recipient of the stray shot.

Hamill's jaw dropped, "Of all the people…"

"I know," Suresh piped out, "I mean, what are the odds?"

From his viewscreen on the bridge of the mothership, Zo'or observed a human doctor tending to his patient- a one Ronald Sandoval, hooked up to the appropriate monitors, his body inert, his head wrapped up in bandages. Looking grim, the physician turned from the bed to address Zo'or.

"The part of his brain that keeps the heart and lungs going is still intact," the doctor said nervously, "But not much else. Basically he is- to use nonmedical terms- a vegetable."

"Have you ever observed one of my kind to eat, Doctor? I have no use for vegetables!" with that Zo'or terminated the connection.

All that planning undone in an instant. Instead of Thompson being seen as the victim, the humans had concluded the sniper was targeting Doors, who had consequently won by- what was the word they used- a landslide. Even staunch supporters of the Taelons and turned against them and soon the rest of the world would follow- the Synod decided the time for drastic measures had finally come.

Zo'or smiled at the thought.

At that moment the last of the companion shuttles docked aboard the mothership. Several of them came aboard the bridge alongside their respective protectors- with one notable exception.

"I see you are without your protector, Da'an," he observed with a sinister sneer.

"Major Kincaid assisted in removing candidate Doors to safety after the attack," Da'an struggled to stay calm, and certainly not to betray his knowledge of his protector's association with the people the Synod had attempted to implicate, "I have been unable to reach him since."

"Then I shall provide his global frequency to the Volunteers," Zo'or answered, "It would not do for him to be an accidental casualty in the events to come."

Zo'or reveled in the apparent fear on his 'parent's' face; it was no secret Zo'or resented Da'an's influence and vehemently disagreed with the elder's stance on humanity, "Relax Da'an," Zo'or smirked, "I considered moving against you, but I think it would be a more fitting revenge for you to live to see your vision of coexistence crumble."

"Then the die is cast," Da'an shuddered.

"It is," Zo'or looked to earth on the viewscreen, "And I for one, have tired of pretending."

With a grin so wide one could worry his head would fall off, President-Elect Jonathan Doors raised both arms in victory as his supporters cheered. Those stupid aliens had given him everything he needed with their assassination attempt, and he had no intention of squandering his good fortune. So high on his triumph was he that he felt no suspicion when two suited men approached, unchallenged by the guards Joshua had hired- though he wondered where his son was now.

"Congratulations on your upset, Mr. Doors" one of the men greeted.

"This isn't my victory," Doors answered smugly before the crowd, "But mankind's. And you two are-"

"This is Frank Tate," the man gestured to the one beside him, "And I am Ryan Patrichio," he then showed a federal agent's badge, "FBI."

"FBI- how dare you! Unhand me!" Doors bellowed as the one called Tate pulled his arms behind him and slapped on handcuffs. The cheers of those gathered to support Doors died quickly, giving way to stunned silence.

"Your son has come forward with evidence of ballot tampering," Patrichio said smugly, "I'm afraid you're under arrest, Mr. President." They then dragged Doors away, his supporters too floored to do anything.

Back on their hidden lunar sanctuary, a bottle of champagne was opened to toast Hamill, the cell's man of the hour.

"You foiled the Taelon's latest plot," Saberhagen praised, "And, however accidentally, rid us and the Earth of their most feared and ruthless stooge, not too shab…"

As the words died on Saberhagen's lips the rest turned to see what he had. Past the window that doubled as Suresh's viewscreen a veritable flotilla of large spacecraft- constructed in the sleek, curving style of Taelon manufacture- emerged from interdimensional space.

Everyone in the room stepped closer to see these ships surround the planet below.

Everyone flinched when the ships opened fire.


	9. Chapter 9

**An Unknown Variable**

**No Going Back**

Before the eyes of himself and his followers, Gene Saberhagen watched as an armada of Taelon battlecruisers barraged their homeworld with weapons fire.

After the collective initial shock faded, Saberhagen looked to Suresh. He didn't need to give any orders the youth already sped to his console.

"Right now," Suresh started, "They're hitting military targets- airfields, army bases, missile silos- one of them took out the pentagon, Pearl Harbor and Guantanamo Bay with its first salvo."

"How many Taleons make up their crews?" Hamill asked.

"None- the ships are definitely Taelon make but it looks like Volunteers are piloting them- and I'm seeing a lot more in what look like passenger holds."

"To mop up what's left once the bombardment starts" Saberhagen deduced.

Creighton shook his head in astonishment, "Just because Doors wins they do this?"

"With Doors in a position of political power it would only be a matter of time before their façade as the misunderstood space brothers crumbled," Saberhagen pointed out, "Evidently they decided not to wait."

At this point multiple contacts emerged from the surface- nuclear missiles launched by naval craft and the few silos not destroyed in the first attacks. Though it looked as though they'd get close enough to detonate they were soon obliterated- not by the ships in orbit, but from the automated defenses of the Taelon embassies below.

Looking from the bombardment to the others Street pleaded, "Why are we just standing here? We got to stop them!"

"With what?" Saberhagen countered. The arsenal his cell had gathered was suited for guerilla combat, not to shoot down a large spacefleet, and there would be no hiding the kind of firepower capable of what Street called for from the Mothership's sensors.

"Well, what about those micro-nukes- the ones you stole from that base in Alaska?"

"All three of them?" Creighton snipped, "We used the rest to eradicate those 'other' aliens in their underground stasis chambers."

Before Street could say anything else Saberhagen's global toned; opening it he heard a message the device intercepted, sent from the mothership to Earth, "Crap- there's something I have to do." With no more of an explanation he closed the global, and using his teleporter he vanished from their sight.

Standing in the mothership's engine room, Lili Marquette tired maintain the link to Kincaid on her global. If what she heard on the ship was true, Doors was in custody, Earth was finally under direct assault and her attempts to reach the leaders of other cells had all gone unanswered. Marquette told Kincaid she was ready to overload the mothership's reactor yet he pleaded with her that there had to be another option, then suddenly her global went blank.

"I'm sorry, Liam." She reached for the reactor controls; suddenly sensing someone behind she turned, her free hand dropping to grab her energy pistol. Just as she got it free from her holster some force knocked her to the ground, her weapon flying.

"I can't let you do that, Captain," Hearing what was supposed to be a dead man's voice Marquette whipped her head around and saw a ghost pointing a skrill at her.

"Saberhagen!" she exclaimed, "You're …"

"Alive, yes," he answered, "And to achieve my greater goals I need this ship alive,"

"Greater goals?" Marquette was aghast, "What greater goals?"

"A united humanity," Saberhagen started, "A humanity that knows no greed or superstition, that doesn't squabble over borders on a map."

"But they are killing us down there!" Marquette screamed.

"To rise from the ashes you have to burn first," Saberhagen spoke, his voice eerily calm.

Marquette made a move to grab her pistol, Saberhagen destroyed it first with his skrill.

"Dammit Lili, we were allies once!" he shouted, "Don't force me to do this."

"Doors was right, you are insane," Marquette spat.

"It's because of Doors those ships are firing on Earth in the first place," Saberhagen countered, "His election is what lit the powder ke-"

Before he could finish something happened. Colours around him dimmed, Marquette's movement's and the reactor's vibrations suddenly slowed to a trickle. To his left a face materialized in the air.

"Who… are you?" Sabaerhagen asked.

"Hag'el," the face replied, "Or more accurately, a remnant of his spiritual essence, emerging to give you a last warning to leave the path you now tread."

"It'll take more than an alien ghost to scare me from my task," Saberhagen snarled.

"You truly think this one nation you imagine is what your people need?" Hag'el shook his ethereal head, "The Taelons are united, and they need humans to save them from their own stagnation. The Jaridians are united- by a hatred that's consuming them in every sense of the word."

"Just because they screwed up doesn't mean we will," Saberhagen spat back, "And you're one to talk- from what I've learned your species imposed its genetics and philosophy on the ancestors of theirs!"

"And where are we now," Hag'el simply said, "I will disperse soon, this was the last warning I could give. Heed it before it's too late."

At that Hag'el faded away, suddenly the colors returned to Saberhagen's vision and the sense of slow motion faded- and Marquette was upon him, her hands around his throat!

An instant later both were back in Saberhagen's lunar hideout. Marquette reflexively let go of Saberhagen's neck; three fatal skrill blasts struck her as he fell to the floor.

Hamill reached for his leader's arm, "Sorry- we were worried where you might have gone," he helped to his feet, "Suresh suggested we check the bugs he planted in their engine room, we saw someone attacking you…"

Vosser looked at Marquette's face and recognized her, "But that's-"

"She was going to overload their reactor," Saberhagen said, "Blow the mothership all the way to Andromeda."

"You should've let her do it!" Street shouted.

"Oh, and what if I had?" Saberhagen spun around, staring her in the eye, "What would happen then? Either those ships out there, he pointed to the cruisers firing on Earth or Taelon forces on some other world would retaliate- and burn the planet to ash! Is that worth the death of a few of them, the destruction of one ship?

"We are in this for the long haul- we will defeat those bastards and we will avenge the dead but we have to do it right- we will stick to the plan." Saberhagen then made off to his quarters before anyone could have a chance to respond.

Having locked the door behind him, Sabehagen sat down. Once he finally calmed himself he activated his global and intercepted traffic on military and police bands, something he never could have done without Suresh's instructions on the tech.

It seemed the battle cruisers had finally run out of military targets to destroy from above, and were descending to disgorge their soldiers. Indeed, some already had, and the few clashes between them and resistance had ended favoring the Volunteers.

Making sure his face would be hidden and his voice altered, Saberhagen, sent a message to the globals of the many planetbound sympathisers he had anonymously found and networked with over the past months.

"Lay low- no matter how difficult that sounds. Dying in the streets will accomplish nothing; let them and their alien masters think they have beaten you. When the time comes, you will hurt them far worse than those before you ever could."

As he closed the global, hoping those he reached would heed his words, Saberhagen reflected. True, it had happened quicker than he intended, and in a different way, but the Taelons had shown themselves fro what they were. The war had begun and, just as important, the misguided Resistance appeared to be losing. As they were supposed to.

Saberhagen hated the secrecy, and wished he could explain to the others this was part of the plan, if not *the* plan; when the dust settle and the Taelons were at their most complacent and vulnerable he could overthrow them and then, seen as humanity's liberator, convince the survivors of Earth to accept his guidance.

But how could he explain the necessity of the destruction, the price in blood that their species would have to pay, if it was to emerge better in the long term?

And there was what Hag'el's spectre said to him- what if the alien was right? Both the Taelons and the Jaridians were united among themselves and both were dying-

Except the two species used to be one- their problems only started after they divided into two different races, he remembered. *That* division was what was plaguing them.

"Nice try, Hag'el," Saberhagen chuckled, "But I found the flaw in your argument."

Hadn't he?


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: this chapter features two characters with the name Liam Kincaid. To avoid confusion, 'Liam' refers to the partly alien leader of the resistance, 'Colonel Kincaid' refers to the human officer whose identity the former assumed.**

**An Unknown Variable**

**Last Ditch Effort**

"Lili- don't do-" some sort of interference cut off Liam's connection to Marquette. Trying to stay out of sight he crouched low but kept moving, all the while attempting to reach Augur or Julia or anybody.

Liam had been en route to Da'an's embassy as Zo'or ordered, when some sent to his global footage of Doors being arrested for ballot tampering- more likely a flimsy excuse to get him out of the way. Foolishly Liam had turned back, thinking to help the old man. Then the sky was raining fire and death, the venue were Doors was celebrating his short lived victory destroyed by a direct hit before Liam's eyes. As were other buildings.

So preoccupied was Liam with reaching others he failed to notice the bombardment stopped and the offending craft descending to land troops- until he almost literally ran into a Volunteer sergeant and two soldiers behind.

"Sir!" The sergeant addressed Liam respectfully, "We detected your global signature, you're lucky we found you before-" the sergeant saw the open global in Liam's hand, "Who were you talking to?"

Liam started to reach for his pistol but raised both hands when the sergeant and Volunteer to his left pointed their rifles at him.

"Major Kincaid," the sergeant started, "You are under arrest for-"

Before he could finish the Volunteer behind him shot the sergeant in the back, vaporizing him- then turned to shoot the other Volunteer. Afterwards she lowered her weapon and removed her helmet to reveal the face of an attractive blond woman.

"You're no Volunteer," Liam voiced the realization out loud.

"That obvious?" She smirked, "I'm a friend of Jonathan's, I was supposed to find you if things got bad."

Liam chose not to remark they were way past bad, "So now what do we do?"

"Originally I was supposed to help you get back to Da'an, but I think it's safe to assume that plan's been shot to hell. Prior to the bombardment all the Companions were recalled to the mothership and their embassies went to Defcon 11. They've also took back any shuttles by remote and seized control of the portal network. So unless you've got any bright ideas…"

"I might," Liam said, as he drew his sidearm, "But you stay where I can see you."

The woman gave him an indignant glare, but nodded. He followed her toward a block fortunate enough to escape the bombardments, if not the Volunteer jackboot.

"There," from behind a corner Liam pointed to a working portal guarded by two Volunteers that failed to see them, "I might be able to use my clearance to override any lockouts before the Taelons realize I'm not coming back and change the codes."

"If they haven't done it already," the blonde pointed out.

"Yeah," Kincaid conceded, "If they haven't already," before bolting out and shooting down both sentries where they stood.

From their hidden redoubt on the moon Saberhagen and his followers observed two feeds from spyware planted in different locations- one the bridge of the Taelon mothership, the other Resistance headquarters. Unfortunately, neither was very informative; those in resistance HQ were either waiting for the enemy at the door with weapons drawn or receiving information on their globals by text. As for the mothership, as if they expected someone to be listening none spoke out loud, transmitting orders and receiving updates by text. Any magnified views of their consoles only showed a new encryption the cell had yet to crack.

Suddenly the sound of the emergency portal in the resistance hideaway attracted everyone's attention; Cook and her troops whirled their weapons to see Liam and the blonde woman emerge.

"Who the hell is this?" Cook snarled.

"Someone who saved my life," Liam spat back.

The blonde woman took the moment to introduce herself, "My name is-"

"Renee Palmer," Saberhagen said out loud the name of the woman he recognized, "She was on Doors' executive board, same as me. This is the first inkling I've had that she was resistance to," a rather unsettling notion for a man who thought he knew all of Doors' deep, dark secrets.

As Cook and her men finally accepted Palmer and lowered their guns, a signal from an unknown party came on a nearby monitor. This caught the resistance by surprise; even Saberhagen looked around his command center to make sure no one in his cell was contacting them against his orders.

Augur tentatively answered the signal. On the monitor appeared Colonel Kincaid, the officer whose identity Liam had been using for months- and the secret commander of Project Dark Knight, a task force secretly assembled to oppose the Taelons should they prove hostile- which they had.

"Colonel," Liam greeted the officer, "Wasn't aware you knew where to find us."

"Be glad we did, you need all the help you can get right now," the Colonel responded, "Before landing those new ships were pretty thorough; aside from airfields, ships and naval docks they've also taken out most weapon depots and army bases- all armies.

"The automated defenses on the Taelon embassies are contributing to the attack, both by shooting down any missiles that get launched and taking out whatever armoured vehicles the bombardment missed."

"What about the ground battles?" Liam asked with trepidation.

"Not much better- far as we can tell most cops and a few brave civilians have sided with your resistance guys but the Volunteers are two well trained and equipped- and they got help. Drug cartels in Latin America, militia gun nuts closer to your home, petty warlords anywhere petty warlords can be found."

"What, they're fighting on the side of the aliens?" Julia was aghast.

"They think if they help the Taelons win they'll be rewarded," Liam speculated.

"Will they?" Mitchell, one of Cook's men asked.

"Unless we make sure they don't win," Liam tried and failed to sound confident.

"How?" Cook complained, "They're all back on the mothership and they've made it pretty much impossible to get to them- not shuttles, the portals locked out…"

Something occurred to Liam, "A portal was set up in Da'an's embassy, it might not be monitored or locked out like the public ones."

"Yeah, because the embassies are sealed up tighter than Fort Knox," Hamill, having overheard Liam, pointed out, "They'd never get inside."

"They might if they had help," Saberhagen suddenly said.

All eyes fixed upon him, "This part of your big plan?" Street inquired.

"No, but an opportunity to hurt the Synod is too good to pass up," Saberhagen answered, "Especially if we can get another enemy to do it for us."

"Another enemy?" Creighton remarked.

"Don't pretend to be stupid Professor, you know as well as any to reach our goals we'd have clash with resistance eventually," Saberhagen replied.

Street got nervous at hearing this, one of those down there in resistance headquarters was a friend of hers, after all. Yet something stopped her from speaking up.

Back on Earth those at resistance HQ jumped at a signal from another party who seemed to know where they were. Liam acknowledged- both everyone in the base and Colonel Kincaid on the monitor saw an image of a person made of oily smoke- just like the projection that warned them of Sandoval's arrival back when they were in a Colorado bunker.

"Listen up," the image 'said' with a voice though audible, was too distorted to recognize- again, just like back in the Colorado bunker, "There is a passage in the city sewers directly below the Taelon embassy. I am sending you it's location. A way inside will be provided, your forces can use the portal therein to infiltrate the mothership."

"Why should we trust you?" Cook snarled, "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"The foe of your foe," the image replied, "That is all that matters."

The signal terminated but suddenly the globals of all inside the HQ rang; sure enough somebody had sent them the location the image spoke- and to Colonel Kincaid as well.

"It's got to be a trap," Julia insisted.

"If the Taelons knew we were here they wouldn't bother setting us up," Liam pointed out, "They'd just take us out with a proton missile."

"So we'll meet you under the embassy then?" Colonel Kincaid asked.

"What- are you even in DC?" Augur said, "How will you get here unnoticed?"

The Colonel chuckled, "Are you kidding, getting someplace unnoticed is what we do best. Don't worry- we'll be there." The screen went blank.

Seeing Augur reach for an energy pistol Liam grabbed his arm, "But you won't."

"The hell I won't," Augur snapped, "What, I'm to just sit here and worry for you?"

"Someone's got to continue the fight if we fail," Liam insisted.

"Maybe we won't fail if one more-" a flash struck Augur, cutting his words short and dropping him to the ground. Liam turned to see Cook pointing her pistol where Augur had been standing.

"I didn't see the point in wasting time arguing," she said, "What, it was on stun, he'll be back on his feet in five minutes."

Liam was about to say that wasn't the point, but she was right about one thing- they didn't have time to argue.

Liam led Cook and the others through the tunnels beneath the city; sure enough, when they reached the spot sent to them, there was a large hole in the ceiling- that appeared to have been made by an explosion from above the concrete- and nylon ropes they could climb hanging down. They scaled the ropes to find Project Dark Knight waiting.

Liam pointed back to the hole with his thumb, "Your handiwork?"

"I wish," Colonel Kincaid said, "That hole was made when we got here, just like the man made of smoke said it would be."

Liam opened his global and sent something to theirs from it, "Transmitting the mothership's internal layout. Our best chances are for us to take the bridge or engine room, if not both, these are the quickest ways to either."

"You hit the bridge, we'll take the engine room- and we bring gifts, too," the Colonel and his troops each produced devices resembling those fitted onto their weapons, "Pulse weapon transducers- able to side step any virtual glass fields they drop in your way. You won't be able to walk through, but they should make it less of a turkey shoot for the bad guys." Liam and his fighters mounted the transducers on their rifles, then both teams made for the nearby portal.

On the mothership high over Earth, the assembled Companion Protectors gathered to welcome two more to their ranks. Ryan Patrichio and Frank Tate, having brought the inconveniently elected Doors into custody were now elevated from lowly FBI agents to guardians of Synod members Da'an and Zo'or respectively (Liam's use of security clearance to hack a portal to some mystery location had been detected, marking him a deserter at best; and Zo'or found Patrchio less insolent, anyway). As their colleagues around the table raised a glass each the two newly implanted did likewise, skrills now bonded on their wrists.

"Drink up boys- as much as you want," Lieutenant Roberts, the Senior Protector said, "Thanks to your CVIs you can't get drunk anymore!" They all laughed.

But the mirth was cut short by alarms. On a monitor showed two armed teams- one led by the deserter Liam appear in an onboard portal- gunning down the Volunteer sentries; one ran toward the engine room, as the other headed in the direction of the bridge the traitor Liam was seen plugging some device into a nearby wall console- then the monitor went dark, as did all internal sensors.

"Split up!" the Companion Protectors divided into two groups, "We'll stop them before the bridge," Roberts said, "You guys secure engineering!"

As it was the Protectors reached the Engine room first, upon seeing Colonel Kincaid and his squad approach they brought down a what should have been a one-way barrier of virtual glass before firing- at the same moment as the hostiles, whose weapons fire bypassed the barrier easily. When the shooting was done half the Companion Protectors were down- but so were all of Project Dark Knight.

Dispelling the useless Virtual Glass barrier, the surviving Protectors headed to the bridge. Among them Tate used his headset to signal Patrichio in the other detachment, "We're on our way to back you up-

"Be careful, their guns that can scratch v-glass!" Tate's warning sounded in the earpiece of the fallen Patrichio. Unlike Tate's squad the Protectors sent to stop Liam and his team had been the ones to be wiped out. Cook shot through the virtual glass with her gun, but when she couldn't move though it herself she screamed her frustration.

"Why claw at the windows," Liam said to her as he plucked a strange looking tool from his belt, "When you can go through the wall." Activating the tool, he struck the bulkhead with it, cutting a passage through.

On the mothership bridge Da'an, Zo'or and T'than waited uneasily, each wondering if they should have sought sanctuary the ship's hidden stasis chamber like most of the Taelons aboard. The bridge crew- the only other Taelons not hiding struggled to get the internal sensors back online whilst three implant drones aimed their skrills at the closed entranceway, ready to shoot down any intruders foolish enough to use the front door.

Liam surprised all present by cutting through a side wall; those following him shooting down the implant drones as they turned. Rushing into the bridge the resistance fighters surrounded Da'an, aiming their weapons directly at Zo'or. In spite of all Zo'or had done to him, Da'an looked at the guns pointing toward his last offspring with trepidation.

"It's over, Zo'or," Liam said, "You are to recall your goons from Earth and shut your embassies down immediately."

"You think you can threaten me, traitor?" Zo'or snarled, "Our loyal Protectors have slain your friends in engineering and are already headed here."

Cook started to speak, "That won't do you any good if we shoot you down before-"

"NO!" shouting loudly, Da'an's body flashed and gave off a shockwave that knocked the resistance fighters to the floor, the energy weapons flying from their hands. By the time they got to their feet and scrambled to retrieve their guns, one of the bridge crew Taelons surrounded the weapons with some sort of energy fields, keeping them out of the humans' grasp.

Zo'or smiled contemptuously down at Liam, "I believe, traitor, the appropriate human expression is- nice try?"

Liam stilled, his face hardening, "It so happens I know a Taelon expression," Whirling around he pointed his hands toward Zo'or and shouted "EMBRACE THE VOID!"

Intense beams of white light shot from Liam's hands and struck Zo'or; with a final shriek the alien's upper body was obliterated, his lower body vaulted off the floor and dispersed upon crashing back down.

"Shaqarava!" One of the other Taelons screamed, recognizing the alien power Liam had just unleashed; heating the alien's voice Liam turned to strike down that Taelon as well, then the others who scrambled trying to escape, one by one. With everybody's attention focused on the former protector's rampage nobody seemed to notice T'than slink away quietly, grinning a jackal's grin.

The bridge crew all slain and the war minister making himself scarce, Liam turned his outstretched palms toward the only Taelon left on the Bridge- Da'an…


	11. Chapter 11

**An Unknown Variable**

**Continuing the Struggle**

A flash of white light slammed into Liam's left armpit and out through his right. His body crumpled to the floor, the power in his palms extinguishing as did he.

Those who still lived turned to the direction of the bolt. Frank Tate stood in the bridge entranceway, the arm on which his skrill bonded outstretched. The other Companion Protectors gathered behind him, the four or five at the head of the cluster also had the symbionts on their arms at the ready.

Still cut off from their pulse weapons, those left of the resistance fighters on the mothership bridge charged toward the Protectors with nothing but their bare hands. The Protectors casually picked them off, one by one. Once the last insurgent's body fell, T'than re-emerged. He looked about the bodies of the humans and drones, as well as the faint residue that was all that remained of the fallen Taelons. Unfortunate losses they were- except for one whom the Commonality was far better off without.

A sound caught his attention. T'than looked to see the internal sensors come back online; whatever sabotage the traitor Kincaid had inflicted had finally been repaired by the ship's systems- after the intrusion was already dealt with.

"The mothership's repair systems' timing," T'than sneered at Tate, "Is almost as impeccable as your own."

"Just doing my job, boss," Tate completely missed the derision in the alien's voice.

"Then I have another task for you," the Taelon War Minister went over to a console and deactivated the energy fields that cut the invaders off from their weapons, "See that this clutter," he motioned to the bodies and the guns, "Is removed from the bridge."

Before his implant and the imperative to obey the Taelons that came with it Tate might have rudely pointed out he wasn't the janitor; now he and his fellow protectors meekly grabbed the corpses of hostiles and drones alike by their ankles and dragged them off toward the mothership's waste recyclers.

Looking back to the residue that was once Zo'or T'than smiled to himself, "The leader of the Synod has fallen. I nominate myself to take his place," he looked to the only other Synod member- indeed the only other living Taelon on the bridge and continued, "Unless you challenge my contention?"

"I do not," was all Da'an said, his tone flat and emotionless.

This caught T'than by surprise, "You do not? "

"My goal of serving on the Synod was to ensure humanity and the Taelons could coexist," as Da'an spoke his tone became increasingly dark; as he looked up his eyes showed menace- a cold, cruel hate, "That is something I no longer desire."

His words and expression so chilling they caused T'than to take a step back; the now leader of the Taelon race looked to the entranceway which the traitor Kincaid's body had been dragged through and off the bridge.

'Well done, traitor,' T'than mused to himself, 'You served our species far better as an adversary than you ever had as a servant.'

Saberhagen's base, moments earlier. Those gathered watched Tate strike Kincaid down, then saw the others that followed him make one futile rush. First Palmer fell dead, then Cook, then Mitchell…

"Turn it off," Saberhagen ordered. Suresh deactivated the feed, the bridge of the mothership vanished from sight. For a long time, none spoke.

"That whammy Da'an hit them with," Suresh broke the silence referring to the shockwave that came from the alien's body "Anybody here know they could do that?"

Multiple head shakes and murmurs to the negative answered him. Hanging his head low Saberhagen quietly headed for his quarters- Creighton watched him go and waited for a long moment before following.

Saberhagen sat hunched over his global, ostensibly using it to listen to intercepted transmissions both across Earth and from it to the mothership, learning who of his cell's sympathizers on the planet had survived the bombardment.

In truth he was trying to keep himself too busy to think on what had happened, both on Earth and in space, and that he used people who once fought by his side and then watched them die without lifting a finger to help.

He jumped at hearing the chime from the door to his quarters; clearing his throat he said out loud, "Come in."

The doors slid aside to admit Creighton. Once they shut behind him the former professor put down a small device in the center of the room and activated it. Those within the 'sphere of silence' would be able to speak and hear each other just fine, but those without would hear nothing, nor would their words get through.

"Had a feeling you might not want the others to hear what we're about to say," Creighton explained; pointing at Saberhagen's global he asked, "Heard from you friends planetside yet?"

"Most listened and have laid low for now," Saberhagen answered, "Those that didn't… "

"I'm surprised you cared," Creighton replied, "Seeing as you only helped Kincaid and company do as much damage as they could before they got wiped out."

Saberhagen glared at him, "I did what I had to do- don't forget we're in this for the bigger picture," Despite his words, there was doubt in his voice.

Creighton sensed that doubt, "What is it- what happened?"

Saberhagen finally relented and told Creighton what happened on the mothership, how Ha'gel's 'ghost' -for lack of a better word- appeared and tried to convince him the folly of his task, "What if he's right and this was all a fool's errand?" Saberhagen asked, "What if this fight for uniting humankind is doomed to fail, even if it succeeds?"

For a second he expected Creighton to congratulate him on his belated enlightenment; instead the scientist stood scowling, "You started this- you better damn well grow a new pair and finish it." Creighton then turned off the sphere of silence, picked up the device and walked on out.

On the bridge of the mothership T'than, as the new leader of the Synod, sat on what was Zo'or's chair. He found it felt good. On the viewscreen in front of him was one of the higher ranking officers of the volunteer corps.

"Most of the Resistance went down fighting," the officer reported, "A few saw the writing on the wall and surrendered. Most of the governments have as well, and there are the militant leaders and cartel bosses who were promised power if they sided with us."

"And they shall have their power," T'than smugly replied, "Unlike most of your species we Taelons honor our word," he chose not to add, 'at least when it serves our purposes,' "Tell the criminals and militants we shall sort out the details of this new arrangement soon, in the meantime have the battlecruisers see to extinguishing the many fires caused by the bombardment lest all their cities burn to the ground."

Sanberhagen looked through the large window to Earth below. Most had seen the grim expression he wore after leaving his quarters and given him a wide berth. He turned to the sounds of two people talking low and saw Street and Hamill whispering with the occasional glance in his direction. Finally, Street stepped away from her friend and toward Saberhagen.

"Got something on your mind?" She tried to sound casual, unconcerned.

"A lot on my mind, actually," Saberhagen exhaled, "Whether our goal is worth the damage that's been done, if we really can defeat the Taelons and unite humanity- and even if we do, is the unity doomed to fall apart."

"Don't be silly, of course it's going to fall apart," Street countered; As Saberhagen glared at her she continued, "If not tomorrow, a year from now, a hundred, maybe a thousand- but that's not really the point, is it?"

"Perhaps you could enlighten me to what the point is, then?" Saberhagen asked.

"That we keep trying, keep making the effort," she answered, "You heard the saying-failure is when you don't get up again?"

Saberhagen shook his head laughing, "I suppose it is." Street saw the smile and it did her good- she smiled back.

Jonathan Doors sat in his cell on the mothership, mulling over the unfairness of it all. He'd beaten that toady Thompson, was in a position to really overthrow the damned aliens only to be brought to those same aliens in handcuffs. Ballot tampering his ass! No lawyer- no one global call, they'd just dragged him to the mothership and thrown him in the brig. That they implied his own son was part of the false arrest was salt rubbed in the wound- especially as for some reason he believed it.

Worst of all was the wondering what was going on outside his cell. He knew whatever accusations made against him would be challenged soon, and the Taelons had to know it as well if they knew anything about humankind- which meant whatever they had planned, they had to go through with it soon.

Suddenly he was no longer alone. One of the bastards who brought him aboard came in- Doors could not help but notice a skrill on the man's wrist. Following Tate was a Taelon wearing a green sash whom Doors failed to recognize, and beside him Da'an.

But Da'an had changed- looking into the Companion's eyes Doors could see something in him had died, had hardened the alien forever. It was a chilling sight- much more than the smug smirk the other Taelon wore.

With a huff of utterly false bravado Doors addressed the alien wearing the sash, "I don't believe I've had the displeasure."

The Taleon sneered, "You have not- I am T'than, the Taelon War Minister, and now the acting leader of the Synod."

"Leader?" Doors sat back, confused, "What happened to Zo'or?"

"Your resistance lapdog," Da'an seethed, "Struck him down, in a final act of futile rebellion, along with several of our brethren."

Doors' eyes bulged at this- Zo'or dead? By lapdog Da'an must have meant Kincaid, but the alien's choice of words, "Final act?"

"The traitor Kincaid is dead, as are the rest of those who deluded themselves to think they could defy us," T'than replied, "Both those that boarded the mothership with him, and those we crushed on the planet below.

"We have come to execute you before you can cause any more grief, but we thought it important that before you die, you should know you have failed."

Doors started to chuckle, "Maybe I have- but then so have you."

The aliens glowered, "What do you mean?" T'than inquired.

"You sought to use humanity as a tool," Doors began, still chuckling, "But you forgot something- a tool is useless once it's been broken," at that he began to laugh loudly.

This mirth enraged Da'an even more; turning to Tate he shouted, "Kill him now!"

Tate raised his arm. A blast from his skrill bolted through the virtual glass barrier, vaporizing Doors' head; his body fell forward, lading on his knees and the cauterized neck wound- yet somehow the Taelons could still hear him laughing.

Clenching his fists Da'an turned to his new leader, "You should know," he said to T'than, "There is at least one Resistance hold out left."

As the elevator doors slid aside, a squad of Volunteers barreled into what once was the nerve center of the Resistance movement, energy weapons at the ready. They found no one, the hideout appeared to have been abandoned. One approached the interdimensional portal set up inside the lair; he got within two feet when something caught the notice of the whole squad.

From a holographic projector appeared an image in the likeness of the now deceased Lili Marquette, "Hello volunteers," she said in a sweet voice totally out of character of the woman she resembled, "If you're hearing this, it's because the Resistance has been wiped out and Augur is gone. But don't feel too bad, because he left behind a little parting gift- a rather explosive one."

Hearing this the Volunteers rushed to the ID portal, only to find it had been sabotaged to shut down after the last person- presumably this Augur, had used it to leave. Rushing back to the elevator they came down in…

They never reached it. The explosion obliterated not only the headquarters, but the church built above it for good measure. Nothing remained, least of all the Volunteers.

At this moment, Saberhagen gathered those of his followers- one could argue the only surviving cell of the Resistance- to him and began to speak.

"Up until now," He began," We have contented ourselves with waiting, preparing for the moment to take the fight to the Taelons.

"The time for preparation is over- the time for aggression is now. The Taelons have the Earth firmly in their grasp, and we're the only ones left who can make them let go.

"As of a minute ago I set a message to those on Earth who were sympathetic to the greater goals of this cell- they will play an important part in the struggle to come.

"The Taelons believe themselves victorious- we must show them otherwise!"

His speech was answered with cheers, and even the ever-cynical Creighton found himself moved by the words- if only slightly.

Amidst the burning cities of Earth, people across the planet grieving and searching for loved ones suddenly answered their globals. No face appeared in the same transmission sent to all, only the following words, "The time draws near, be ready- when the sword of the vengeance is about to strike, it will need your hands to raise it."

Most would hang up their globals in disgust, seeing the words as too little, far too late. To a few however, the message helped rekindle the nearly-snuffed embers of hope- and they would see those embers grow into mighty flames.


	12. Chapter 12

**An Unknown Variable**

**The Right Thing**

Across the street, on a massive viewscreen appeared the visage of Da'an, about to deliver his next spiel of propaganda. Looking on the alien's face from inside the Skrill Development Center Eleanor fought the urge to give him a one-finger salute in front of the two Volunteers serving as security.

"People of Earth," he began, "It has been nearly a week since the Taelons were compelled to respond to the insurrectionists who forced our hands."

'Yeah, everyone knows it's our fault you guys bombed the crap out of us,' a sentiment Eleanor somehow managed to keep to herself.

"We have finally and decisively excised the remainders of the so-called Resistance who brought this unnecessary destruction upon you. Our battlecruisers have extinguished the last of the fires resulting from the forced intervention; efforts to clear the rubble in preparation for rebuilding are underway.

"With the blessings of the Synod and the support of the Volunteer corps, new governments are re-establishing order in many nations whose former leaders abandoned their constituents by siding with the Resistance malcontents," Apparently he did not deem it necessary to add most of these new governments were heads of criminal cartels or terrorist outfits just last week.

Da'an concluded with the expected admonition, "Finally we of the Taelons must insist that we took no joy in our recent actions, and plead that you not make it necessary for us to repeat them. There is room in this universe for Taelon and human."

Again, he had spoke as if humanity had brought the bombardments upon themselves and the Taelons had done Earth a favor. But the worst part was most of the survivors seemed to believe it. That very morning on the way to work Eleanor had seen street kids spray painting crude accusations of the Resistance 'starting the war'; at lunch she overheard one of the lugs behind her say recruitment for the Volunteers had actually risen. She tried to convince herself those new enlistees only did so to protect or provide for whatever family they had left but the silent argument rang hollow.

The broadcast over, Eleanor returned to her post. A voice reached her ear; she looked up toward one of the guards.

"Looks like you got some overtime," the soldier joked, "Our shift is almost over, you know how to lock the place up right?"

"Of course," she forced a smile. For a building containing an 'important resource', security at the center was surprisingly lax since the ground fighting had ended.

Eleanor had since learned that many other Taelon-human 'co-ventures' had also relaxed their guard somewhat. According to the guard she's just reassured, the need for increased security was no longer needed because people had seen the futility of taking up arms against their benevolent alien overlords- the war was over, the aliens had won.

'You keep telling yourselves that,' she mused. Waiting until ten minutes after the guards had left she accessed the building systems- and downloaded the virus sent to her global by those who'd reached out to her and others over the past year, the ones who'd given her new reason to hope- and a chance to help strike back.

From what the message accompanying the virus said it would tamper with the building's internal sensors, so that for brief moments nothing would be shown on them save for a short span between the blank spots, then erase itself. The brief span puzzled Eleanor, but she followed instructions. Once her 'overtime' work was ended, on the way home she sent back a signal to the source of the virus.

Back up on the moon Suresh received her signal and shouted, "Operation's a go!" Already Saberhagen, Hamill and Luka Ironside, another loyal warrior and early recruit in Saberhagen's cell donned and activated their masks and gloves. An adaptation of salvaged Jaridian tech, they enabled their wearers to take on the face and handprints of other humans- in this case known enforcers of one of the cartels the Taelons had now put in charge of whole nations. Saberhagen himself assumed the appearance of Declan Conners, one of the worst of the lot. Hamill grabbed the holographic projector needed for the operation and the three teleported themselves down into the heart of the Skrill development center.

Knowing they had little time they set about their task; removing what they'd came for and setting up the projector in its place before activating it. All the while they made sure to get 'their' handprints all over the place and looked mockingly into the camera lenses before the virus would knock them out again; when enough time had passed for that they teleported away with their prize.

Materializing back in their lunar hideout Saberhagen pulled off the mask to show his real face as the others of the cell gathered to greet him and his others. Stepping aside he gestured to the biocontainer- and the alien life form within.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Saberhagen announced, "Allow me to introduce the mother of all skrills." Okuda stepped forward and with Hamill and Ironside's help moved it to the space in the hideout set aside as her laboratory. Much of the cell looked on from a distance, oohing and aahing as they did so.

Creighton stayed away from the little mob but he observed them; then glanced at Saberhagen before looking down to his own wrist. He remembered being initially reluctant to have one of the creatures bonded to his wrist like the others, his brief encounter with the aliens from the stasis chambers had changed his mind.

Back on earth the next day a caregiver came to take fluid samples from the skrill queen- and discovered she'd been replaced with a hologram. Security footage from the previous night showed the ostensible perpetrators- though how they got in and out unnoticed so quickly was yet to be determined. Nevertheless, the criminals were apprehended by the Taelons and taken to the mothership immediately.

Da'an and T'than watched as Tate made the real Declan Conners scream with the miracle breakthrough in neural torture. Those thought to be accomplices of Conners were undergoing the same procedure in other cells.

Tate shot off the device for the moment and Conners pleaded, "You've got the wrong guy- I don't know anything about a stolen skrill queen!"

"Do not insult us with your lies!" Da'an spat, "We saw your faces in the footage, your handprints were found at the scene of the crime- yours and theirs!"

Tate reactivated the device for an agonizingly long five seconds, when he turned it back off Conners spat, "If I did steal what you think I did- do you really think I would- any of us would- be so stupid as to let you see our faces? To leave behind fingerprints?"

"I have always felt it impossible to overestimate the intelligence of human beings," T'than sardonically answered. He motioned for Tate and Da'an to speak to him away from Conners; as Tate followed an implant drone came forward to continue the torture.

"This is a problem," T'than redundantly stated, "The theft of the queen is bad enough but that they would attempt it in the first place shows their contempt for the hands that placed the crowns on their brows."

"It was foolish of the Synod to accept the word of criminals who profit at the expense of their own kind," Da'an spat, "We must recover the queen- and purge these degenerates- all of them- as an example to others!"

"Whoa there- don't you think you might be biting off more than you can chew?" As the two Taelons glared at Tate he swallowed than tried to explain himself, "Look I got no love for these crooks either- hell, it used to be my job to put them away- but the militias and warlords that also took your side rely on them for guns and ammo, you'd have to purge them too and you ain't got enough Volunteers to take on both."

It was true- despite overcoming the Resistance the Volunteer corps had suffered high casualties, and though many humans had signed up since the surrender it would take a considerable amount of time to train and indoctrinate them, the latter could be helped only so much by cyberviral implants.

Something occurred to T'than, he looked to Tate and asked, "These weapons they supply the warlords and militias with- how advanced are they?"

"A few energy weapons got on the streets before you had Doors acquire Hammerlin, but mostly they're armed with tried and true slugthrowers and grenades," Tate answered.

The alien smiled, "Then perhaps we should offer to equip them with superior firepower, so that they need no longer relay on the cartels. Then should they become a problem themselves we will remotely disable the energy weapons we supply them with and our Volunteers will have the advantage."

"Disable remotely- you can do that?" Tate asked; when the aliens looked at him incredulously he nodded, "Sorry, forgot who I was talking to. But even if they accept your ray guns they might still want to hold on to the primitive stuff – "

"In the days leading up to his assassination," Da'an interjected, "Zo'or was amassing a stockpile of gold for the influence on humanity its possession can bring- up to 3 trillion American dollars worth, I believe. Offer to exchange some of that gold for any -slugthrowers, as you call them- and explosives handed over."

Tate's jaw dropped at the numbers Da'an had stated, but he recomposed himself and nodded vigorously, "That might work- I'll get on it right away."

Tate left to do their will, T'than looked to Da'an, "Conners and his confederates- what shall we do with them?"

"It is obvious they will tell us nothing," Da'an seethed, "We should eject them into space like the refuse that they are."

This shocked T'than. He knew Zo'or's death had hardened Da'an toward humanity, but this was an extreme even for him- he started to wonder if he should be concerned.

Street walked in on Okuda as she monitored the skrill queen's life signs. Okuda saw her and smiling, waved her in closer.

As she approached Street looked nervously at the alien and asked, "So that's her- the mother of all skrills?"

Okuda nodded, "The Taelons had kept her in a state of continual pregnancy; fortunately, I convinced Saberhagen to ease her down from it," Okuda looked to both of Street's bare wrists, "If you'd like I can clone one for you…"

"Thanks but no thanks," Street did not relish the notion of an alien lifeform attached to her even if it could blow away any enemies she might one day have; wrinkling her brow she asked, "You know Stephen named the one on his arm after me?"

"That's not unusual," Dr. Okuda replied, "We all gave them names," at this she began to stroke the skrill bonded to her, "I call this one Kevin- doesn't he look like a Kevin?"

"Maybe an extremely squicky Kevin," Street remarked.

"Squicky?" Okuda frowned, "To acknowledge them as living beings instead of impersonal weapons? This skrill is nourished by our blood and in return offers a means of defense- these are more than mere symbionts, they're comrades."

At this point Okuda placed a vial of nutrient solution into a hyposyringe; opening the biocontainer she moved to inject the solution into the queen. In the process she unintentionally brushed 'Kevin' against the skrill queen- suddenly she dropped the syringe and fell to the floor screaming. When Street finally calmed the doctor and helped her to her feet Okuda said, "Gene has to know- he has to know…"

"A vision?" Saberhagen's tone was skeptical.

"More like a memory, I think," Okuda started to explain, "I think she tried to pass it onto Kevin and somehow ended up sharing it with me too." She described seeing the queen and others like her on a lush planet, until ships descending from the sky- ships which Saberhagen and the others now knew to be Taelon battlecrusiers- used some form of tractor beam to forcibly gather and remove them from their world.

"They were- are- a sentient race," Okuda stated, "And the Taelons abducted them en masse, altered them into the weapons they are now…"

"That," Saberhagen stated, "Is nothing we haven't known for some time now, yourself included, doctor."

"Well we have to make it right," Street started, "I mean there's got to be a way that we can send her back to – "

"Returning the queen to her planet of origin is out of the question," Saberhagen coldly stated, "We've learned that planet has since been lost to the Jaridians; we'd only be handing her over to another alien empire- assuming they didn't scorch the planet first and leave nothing to question- besides, I have plans for her here."

"Plans to farm her like they did," Street hissed.

"In case any of you have forgotten," Saberhagen intoned, "We are up against a foe whose bodies are nine-tenths energy. Bullets, blades and boots are useless against them, skrills are not."

"We don't need the queen for that," Okuda piped up, "We could get by fine with cloned symbionts and the energy weapons we've high jacked."

"This is not a democracy," Saberhagen growled, "We're keeping the queen should we need to hatch more skrills and that's the end of it." He started to walk away.

"I thought they were our comrades," Street said to his back, "Is this how we treat our comrades- hatch their offspring so we can use them as weapons? Is that how the noble fighters Stephen says you are act?"

Saberhagen stopped, clenched and unclenched his fists several times, then spun around to face her.

"All right then," he said "What would you have me do? Send her to the planet sized piece of charcoal she used to call home? Dump her in some forest on Earth where the mothership's sensors will detect her and they can abduct her all over again? YOU come up with another solution- you know where to find me!" He stormed off.

That afternoon Street picked at her tray of engineered lichen as Suresh sat across from her- the only one to do so since word spread that she'd argued with Saberhagen- suffice to say confronting the cell's fearless leader did not help her win friends.

"The Taelons still seem to think the queen was stolen by the cartels," Suresh informed her, "They've been hunting down their leaders, interrogating them, executing them when they don't hear the answers they want."

"Who are they replacing them with?" Street casually asked, though right now what puppet government replaced the current puppet government somewhere in South America was really the last thing on her mind.

"I don't know- they always seem to find some pushover bureaucrat under some rock somewhere," Suresh laughed to get her to laugh- it didn't work.

Seeing Street suddenly look nervous Suresh turned to see Hamill and Ironside approach- now he started to feel nervous too.

"We heard what you said to the boss man, J," Hamill started.

Street started to stand, Suresh held up both hands "We don't want trouble…"

"What trouble? We're with her on this," Ironside said.

Street's eyes shot wide, "You are?" she asked.

"Well yeah," Hamill raised his arm with the wrist pointed toward himself, "I mean, how can I look at Juliet here and say we used her queen as a weapon factory?"

"We talked it over," Ironside added, "And we think we might have a solution, but we'd need your help Suresh…"

Ten minutes later Hamill and Ironside made their case to a leery Saberhagen, Suresh at his post, Vosser Street and Creighton watching.

"We know the planet they came from is out," Hamill said, "But we figure there's got be other planets with plant and animal life if not what we'd call people- planets the Taelons might know about and have coordinates to – but might not think to look for her "

"It's possible- if they do exist they'd be in the mothership's data files," Vosser, the only one to have spent prolonged time aboard the mothership started, "But they'd make sure those can't be remotely accessed, and after Liam's sneak attack they'd be more alert for boarding actions- teleporting in and out would be noticed."

"Tipping off the Taelons to the fact that someone- anyone- has teleportation technology is not an option," Saberhagen insisted, "Teleportation is one of the few- if not the only- true advantage we have over them."

"And even if we got the coordinates to such a world," Creighton mentioned, "We've never determined if my teleportation technology has a finite range- if it does we could condemn the queen to materialize in deep space- if not disperse into her constituent atoms altogether."

"We thought about that," Ironside said, and we think we found a way around it- Suresh?"

Suresh worked on his console, on the viewscreen above appeared what looked like schematics for some device.

"Remember when the mothership was hijacked?" Suresh asked, "I mentioned they were still working on collapsible ID portals you could pack and carry? Well this is the info we need to make our own."

"We make two of them," Hamill elaborated on the rest of their plan, "One for the boarding party, in case they need to make a getaway. The other we rig like a smaller version of that magma cannon the Taelons used on the Jaridian fleet – "

"The one that accidentally created a wormhole that a Jaridian warship entered and almost reached Earth?" Saberhagen pointed out.

"Well it wouldn't be big enough for one of those to go through," Hamill countered.

Saberhagen glowered- this all sounded like a lot of potential risk for no reward- and dammit, he was the leader here, childish as it may sound.

And yet, somehow he sensed putting his foot down here would be a mistake; finally, he lowered his head, "All right- but I'm leading the boarding team - "he stared Street in the eye, "And we are going to have a talk about what 'not a democracy' means."

Two days later the portals were manufactured. They singled out a Volunteer patrol moving in on a Chilean druglord. Said patrol followed their quarry into a bunker whose walls blocked them from the mothership's sensors- and then Saberhagen, Ironside and Vosser emerged wearing their faces as well as duplicate Volunteer armour, having vaporized the bodies of the Volunteers and the druglord to cover their tracks.

Brought aboard the mothership, the militants in Volunteers' clothing moved out; ostensibly they were reporting to be debriefed, in actuality Saberhagen and Ironside followed Vosser's lead until she found a console from which she could access the information they sought.

Vosser accessed the right files, and began to download them into her global whilst Saberhagen and Ironside stood guard. A turbolift opened and to Saberhagen's horror Tate emerged and came forward. He kept calm, hoping he could mislead the man and avoid the kind of firefight that would bring the real Volunteers down on them.

"What's gong on here?" Tate suspiciously asked.

"Just sending our report through the console," Saberhagen bluffed, "Faster this way."

Tate nodded, then started to turn- then spun back around and slammed his fist into the side of Saberhagen's skull, knocking him to the floor. He raised the arm attached to his skrill toward Vosser, ready to vaporize her…

He never did- a red flash struck his cranium, his now headless body fell backward onto the floor. Saberhagen looked to see the energy rifle in Ironside's grip.

Alarms rang, and barriers of virtual glass came down on both sides of the corridor, "Warning, lethal weapons fire detected on board," a disembodied and coldly feminine voice sounded from nowhere.

Dropping his rifle Ironside drew an energy pistol in each hand, pointing them in opposite directions. Saberhagen rose to his feet; removing the collapsible portal from his back he hurried to set it up while saying, "Erika, you're running out of time…"

"I've got it!" she yelled. The download complete, she rushed to Saberhagen's side while Ironside started shooting down the Volunteers closing in from both sides through the virtual glass. Saberhagen saw two shots from opposite directions vaporize his fellow warrior as the portal activated.

As the useless virtual glass shut down the Volunteers rushed toward the portal; they'd gotten within two feet when a proximity detonator built into the device went off- the portal exploded, taking two Volunteers with it.

Emerging from one of the lesser used portals on Earth, Vosser and Saberhagen rushed down the steps into a nearby subway terminal. Bolting into a filthy men's room Vosser transmitted the information they'd gathered- at the cost of one of their own, Saberhagen couldn't help but think- to Street's global, she would use it to find a suitable place to send the queen. Once the transmission was complete the two teleported back to base.

Aboard the Mothership was chaos. A companion protector and two volunteers were dead and someone had managed to copy data from its systems, though the hacker had managed to cover her tracks as to what was duplicated. Da'an and T'than looked upon the shattered remnants of the portal. The collapsible devices were on the verge of being manufactured and released to the pubic shortly before Thompson's defeat but the Synod shut the project down prior to the bombardment- yet someone had managed to make their own, and from what appeared on internal sensors, had turned three Volunteers against them.

"Still think this is the work of the cartels?" T'than asked.

"Perhaps not," Da'an seethed, "No matter- whoever they are, we shall find them- there is nowhere on Earth they can hide from us."

In their lunar redoubt, Saberhagen and the rest of the cell waited silently but tensely. Finally, in a flash Hamill, Street and Okuda appeared, teleporting back from the abandoned tunnel works where they had planned to send the skrill queen home.

Saberhagen stared at Street, "You should know that Luka died so Erika and I could escape, miss Street- I hope you can at least tell me his loss was not in vain."

Street backed a step, hung her head, then looked to Okuda, who brought forth what at first looked like a deflated but bloody balloon- a second later Saberhagen realized it was the skrill queen's skin.

Creighton asked it first, "She molted?"

"Good a description as any," Okuda answered, her tone suggesting she was in shock, "Stephen opened the portal, I carried her to it, suddenly her skin broke open and she emerged, then flew through it as if she knew what was happening- she was beautiful."

Saberhagen looked to Hamill, "And the portal?"

"Rigged it to blow and teleported the remains to a junkyard near one if their friends in Somalia, just like you said to," Hamill answered.

Suresh heard this, and already he, also as Saberhagen had ordered, set about sending an 'anonymous' tip to the Taelons- hopefully this would direct the aliens' wrath to the warlords and away from their cell.

Street looked to the molted skin in Okuda's hands and asked, "What are you going to do with that?"

"Might I suggest preserving it for now?" Saberhagen said, "You might want to examine it more closely later on." Creighton looked at him suspiciously as did Okuda, but the latter merely nodded and carried the skrill skin to her laboratory.

That night Saberhagen watched as Okuda preformed some tests upon the molted skin of the skrill queen. She finally looked up at him and said "Yes, it should be all I need to grow more of them."

Saberhagen noticed the hesitancy in her voice, "But…"

"But doesn't this feel like we're going back on our word to Juliet?"

"How?" he argued, "That skin is no more a part of the skrill queen than discarded toenail clippings are still part of you- for all we know this could be the reason she molted in the first place- so we would still have something to use against her former captors."

Okuda didn't believe that for an instant and her glare said as much; Saberhagen's face hardened, "Remember the saying, 'all's fair in love and war'- we ARE at war. You can wrack your conscience over this when the Taelons are dead."

He turned and walked off.


	13. Chapter 13

**An Unknown Variable**

**a Use for Sandoval**

**or**

**They saved Be'li's Brain**

Across the street from the hospital lay concrete steps descending to a subway terminal. The trains saw little use since the advent of the worldwide portal network, but there were the few who trusted the rails over interdimensional space, thus the subways still ran, not completely abandoned- but abandoned enough for someone's purposes.

Sending down a camera drone to confirm the terminal's men's washroom was empty, Gene Saberhagen then teleported himself down before activating his mask and gloves- giving him the appearance and handprints of a specific, totally different person. Exiting the toilet, he waited a few short moments before Juliet Street- also disguised thanks to the mask and gloves which incorporated Jaridian replicant technology- emerged from the women's washroom. As one they climbed the steps and made for the hospital.

At the reception desk, they gave their assumed identities. A staff member came to greet them and lead them to the room they sought.

"To be honest," the staff member said, "Some of us were surprised you insisted on keeping him on life support this long, considering all he's done."

"Family is family," Saberhagen lied, "The decision to pull the plug didn't come easily," all of this was a lie of course; the one they came for had been disowned by what relatives he had, and in fact Saberhagen had covertly instructed one of the wealthier of his earthbound sympathizers to pay for the patient's care all this time- for reasons that had nothing to do with compassion.

They reached the room. The staff member opened the door and gestured to the bed within. On that bed, connected to an intravenous bag on a pole as well as several machines, lay Ronald Sandoval, Companion Protector, Taelon lackey and betrayer of his own species. Once his name was spoken in whispers, he'd lay vegetating on this bed for just over a month thanks to a stray bullet.

Both Saberhagen and Street came up to opposite sides of the bed. With a pretense of stroking Sandoval's right arm, he stared at the limb, specifically at the scars that indicated a skrill was once bonded to the appendage. Saberhagen looked to the staff member, who'd chosen to stay at the threshold, and asked "What happened to…"

"It was dependent on a cyber-viral implant," the official said, "With the part of his brain containing the implant pulverized, it didn't live long after- the Companions gave the order for it to be incinerated."

Saberhagen knew all this, and had only asked to 'keep up the act'; he nodded and returned his gaze to Sandoval.

Street looked to the official and asked, "Could we have a moment alone with him, before we- you know, pull the – "

"Of course," The official closed the door. A few seconds later Saberhagen's global rang; he answered to hear Suresh saying he had successfully hacked the hospital's security. For a few minutes, cameras all over the building were down, including the room in which they stood. Saberhagen sent instructions back.

Abruptly Sandoval's bed, along with IV pole, life support apparati and of course the man himself vanished. Half a minute later in its place the bed and machinery returned with an unliving simulacrum of Ronald Sandoval in his place. Once Saberhagen shut down the life support machinery the false Sandoval was indistinguishable from the real one.

Opening the door, the hospital official was surprised to see the plug having already been pulled; as Saberhagen and Street stepped out of the room the former looked to the official and curtly said, "You remember we requested his immediate cremation."

The official's eyes widened at his cold manner but nodded. Saberhagen and Street left the hospital, headed back to the subway terminal and, after entering their respective washrooms, teleported back to base.

Over a month earlier…

Gathered in before the massive viewscreen near Suresh's console watched a feed from spyware in Resistance headquarters. Be'li, a taelon who claimed to be at odds with his species' methods of conquest had come to earth, and given the incompetence of the servants of the Companions, it was near inevitable the resistance had found him first.

Be'li looked to the platform on which a resistance fighter rested. Periodically some pulse traveled from the human's head to a device over the platform. To prevent Zo'or and his minions from locating Be'li the alleged defector had severed his connection to the Commonality; somehow the device and the resting human were supposed to keep Be'li from regressing to what his brethren were before their current form.

As they watched, Liam Kincaid approached Be'li and questioned him. Be'li told of how Zo'or could get away with his aggression against taelons who disagreed with his methods because he acted in ways the Synod wished but could not bring themselves to- Be'li also claimed to now realize how cowardly the Synod's attitude was.

The conversation took a particularly interesting turn when Kincaid offered to seek aid from Da'an- Be'li stated in no uncertain terms Da'an was the originator of the Taelons' expansionist aims and who ordered Be'li's exiled to silence him in the first place. At that, the discussion ended.

"Interesting," Saberhagen pondered on these last words, "Da'an may not be who we thought he was," he looked to Suresh and the others, "Inform me if anything changes," he instructed before heading off.

A short while later Saberhagen found himself in the infirmary looking upon Dr. Okuda's latest creation. Before him on a counter rested a device connected to a tank filled with some sort of fluid. Okuda explained- or tried to- that the fluid would both supply nutrients and remove waste while the device provided electrical stimulation.

"So you're saying this," Saberhagen asked with some unease, "Would keep a brain alive outside of the skull…"

"It sounds like the plot device of an Ed Wood movie, I know," Okuda started, "But think of it- if any of our cell is maimed or wounded too badly to heal, this could keep the best of them alive until we could find a way to give them a new body- transplant, maybe one of those bio-surrogates the Taelons have experimented with…"

Saberhagen nodded worriedly, "Indeed- all the same, I would insist you test this on something- or someone- more expendable before you risk any of our warriors."

It was that point Suresh reached him on his global, saying "We got a problem."

The present…

As Saberhagen and Street materialized in headquarters, Hamill stepped up and said, "They're waiting in the infirmary." Saberhagen nodded and went that way.

Entering the infirmary, he found Okuda standing over the bed she and her helpers had hurriedly moved Sandoval onto before sending down the bed with the facsimile. Saberhagen looked down on the fallen traitor, then to the tank with what remained of Be'li, then finally to Okuda herself.

"Just about ready to make the attempt," Okuda said meekly.

Saberhagen nodded, "You really think you can do this? Attach an alien brain to a human spinal cord and make it work?"

"A decade earlier I'd have said no," she answered, "With what we've learned and devised since, there is a greater chance. The problem is…"

"Yes…" Saberhagen pressed.

"Once I perform the procedure, Sandoval will be truly dead- "Okuda shuddered, "I'll have killed him- even who he was- my oath…"

"Justin Corr's bullet did the true damage a long time ago, doctor," Saberhagen insisted, "He was already gone- remember that."

He then stared into Sandoval's shattered face before turning around and leaving.

Back then…

Saberhagen paced the floor. It was bewildering. From what they'd seen from Resistance headquarters someone- possibly Be'li himself- had sabotaged the device that kept him from regressing, then escaped. The bewildering part was how elusive this 'Neanderthal Taelon' had proven- neither Suresh, the resistance or those serving Zo'or could find him.

Suddenly Suresh received a signal. A security guard in Da'an's embassy- who had been secretly recruited to Saberhagen's cause- reported being assaulted by some creature that demanded to know where Da'an was. The guard told the alien Da'an had left through an ID portal installed in the embassy earlier in the day, and that no one had changed the encoded destination. The alien- then vanished through the portal as well.

"The creature's got to be Be'li," Hamill stated.

"Yes," Saberhagen thought on this, then reaching to Suresh's console contacted Okuda, "Doctor, we may have a volunteer for you sooner than we thought…"

Down at Da'an's embassy the sympathizer guard watched Kincaid go through the portal. Waiting for a long moment as instructed, he then nodded to Elijah Reid, one of Saberhagen's men who'd been hiding around a corner. Reid turned from that corner and into the portal.

Though he didn't know it then, it carried him to the large installation the Taleons had constructed on the opposite side of Earth's moon as Saberhagen's hidden redoubt. Yet instead it looked as though he was in a forest on some alien world; and was briefly distracted until he heard shouting and the name Da'an. Back to the moment he raced around a cliff pulling out his global as he did so.

Saberhagen's instructions were very clear, even if the aim of the mission was not, "Just capture an image of Be'li's head and send it back," his leader said, "Dr. Okuda will do the rest- once it's done get back here."

As it was Elijah saw Be'li hanging from the cliff's summit by Kincaid's arms. He faintly heard Kincaid saying something about Be'li being wrong followed by Be'li snarling "He will betray you." Reid took a picture of Be'li's head just as the creature let go of Kincaid and tumbled down to the simulated forest floor.

Receiving Reid's picture Okuda activated her teleporter quickly- and an instant later Be'li's brain was now in the tank of her device. Before checking to make sure the device was keeping the grey matter alive- which it was- she transmitted to Suresh's console three short words, "I've got it."

Hearing her Saberhagen spoke over the com to Reid, "Okay come home Elijah," But Reid did not appear; "Elijah?" Saberhagen said more worriedly.

"I'm trying," Reid said as he ducked around the cliff- his teleporter seemed to be malfunctioning. Worse, Kincaid and Da'an looked from above- and in his very direction!

Saberhagen looked to Suresh barking "Get him out of there."

"Too late," Reid lamented as he turned his skrill toward his chest and willed it to fire, obliterating the both of them.

"Elijah?" Saberhagen pleaded, then said with anger "Elijah- what have you done?"

"What he had to," Creighton stated; though everyone glared at him he didn't back down, "Think of it- if they'd seen him vanish they'd know someone had access to teleportation technology- in all likelihood they'd have found us soon afterward."

"This wasn't supposed to be a suicide mission," Saberhagen snapped, "Dammit Elijah was one of the first in this cell, he was with me from the start – "

"Yes, a perfect stranger's death would've been much less tragic," Creighton sneered.

Saberhagen stormed off before he could do something impulsive, everyone else shot Creighton as dirty a look as they were capable of.

The Present…

Okuda connected Sandoval's spinal cord to the artificial stimulator, ensuring the body's heart and lungs were still functioning. Then with trepidation she picked up an energy scalpel, activated it- and before she could talk herself out of it, neatly severed the remnant of Sandoval's brain at the same length where Be'li's spinal cord terminated.

While an assistant took Sandoval's grey matter to be incinerated Okuda preoccupied herself with preparing what remained of Be'li for the transplant.

Back Then…

Saberhagen entered the infirmary. Okuda greeted him and led him to the 'brain tank', saying that it was providing enough stimulation to keep the alien brain alive but in a 'rest state'. Okuda also said if Saberhagen wished she could provide additional stimulation to 'wake' the brain and had connected the device to speakers and a microphone so Saberhagen could communicate with it if he desired.

Saberhagen nodded at that, Okuda went over to the tank and increased the charge.

"What?" the voice emanating from the speakers was shrill, mechanical, "Where am I? Why can I not see?"

"Greeting, Be'li," Saberhagen started, "No need to be fearful. I am Gene Saberhagen. The short version is just as you could end your own life, we used technology of our own making to teleport your brain into this- container- and are keeping it alive."

"Am I supposed to be grateful for this?" Be'li screamed, "You ignorant creatures should have let me die, not condemn me to this purgatory- you cretins… "

Saberhagen glowered, Okuda had to step between him and Be'li as he raised his skrill and readied to blast the tank. "Gene, no!" she yelled.

"Listen, you turd in a tank," Saberhagen hissed, "One of us- a man who was like a brother to me… gave his LIFE so you would survive…"

"If you do this Elijah will have died for nothing," Okuda told him.

Breathing heavily, Saberhagen lowered his arm, "Naomi Okuda," he muttered, "Always the voice of reason," he then looked to the tank she created, "So what does that say about the rest of us?"

Okuda reduced the stimulation to bring Be'li 'back to rest'; as she lead Saberhagen out he stopped to ask, "I just thought of something- he was part of the Commonality- is there any chance he could still remember anything important from then?"

"Perhaps- but now might not be the best time to press him on it," she replied.

The Present…

Street, Creighton, Suresh and Hamill stood outside the entrance to the infirmary. They'd been there since the attempted transplant began hours earlier. To their mutual surprise Saberhagen had not- in fact while the operation was underway he and a couple other of the cell's scientists had been busy with something else- and hadn't deigned to say what.

They jumped as the infirmary door opened. Okuda stepped out, pushing before her someone in a wheelchair, his entire head swathed in bandages. Okuda removed them and the others gasped at what beneath.

Okuda had reconstructed the patient's face as best she could, but the result was not pretty. The eyes and the expression beneath them both were feral, and a crisscross of scars did nothing to help.

"Well, everyone," Okuda tried unsuccessfully to sound optimistic, "The transplant seems to have succeeded- permit me to introduce Be'li Sandoval!"

"We really going to call him that?" Suresh asked.

"Just Be'li will be quite sufficient," the patient hissed.

"What's this?" the group parted as they heard Saberhagen's voice; he locked eyes with Be'li, then looked up to Okuda, "It seems you succeeded, doctor."

Okuda nodded, Street spoke up, asking "Where were you all this time?"

Saberhagen gestured to the scientists behind him- who flanked a device of his making and theirs, "Those few micronuclear devices we had?" he reminded, "The nuclear material in them combined was enough to achieve critical mass- and create an explosion with a much greater radius."

"And just what do you plan to blow up with it?" Creighton nervously inquired.

Saberhagen gave a sinister grin.

On the bridge of the mothership Da'an and T'than looked out as the satellite turned and the Taelon moonbase was coming into view. They smiled, as the sight of it reminded them of their subjugation of the planet below.

A second later a bright flash blinded them and the rest of the bridge crew. No sound came through empty space but a shockwave did, causing the entire craft to shudder.

When they regained their visibility the moonbase was gone- and in its place a crater.

It seemed they'd not crushed humanity's resistance completely after all…


End file.
